The Other Side of Silence
by Havah Kinny
Summary: [Little Miss Sunshine] After a violent encounter, a girl comes to live with the Hoovers. She cant say what happened to her, but seeks Dwayne's help in remembering. As their friendship grows, so does the danger around them. DXOC not happy ending 4 sure.
1. Chapter 1

Dwayne had taken to calming his nerves everyday by walking. After finding out that you can no longer do what you love, it takes something to calm you. He walked the same route everyday after school, before homework. It took exactly an hour and a half. Today was no different. He left school, went home, dropped off his stuff, and walked his loop. On his way past the park that was only a block or two from his house, about a block away from the park, he noticed a beat up brown car parked in a non parking zone. Figuring it was someone picking their kid up from the play ground, he ignored it. He walked the rest of the loop, and when he walked past the park again, the car was still there. Cautiously, he walked over to it, wondering why it was there. When he looked inside the window, at a first glance he saw nothing. Once taking a closer look however, he noticed something was sticking out of the pile of paper and garbage on the passenger seat floor, and it looked to be the handle of a gun. "Holy shit." He jumped back a little bit when the car shook slightly, but upon turning, he saw no one behind him. The car shook again, this time he looked at the trunk, then everything clicked.

Frantically, he wracked his brain for something that he could use to pry open the trunk, or to pick the lock. The only metal on him was his belt buckle, and that wasn't even pointed. Bobby pins, crowbar, nothing was hanging around, to help himself thinking better, he popped his retainer in and out of his mouth, then he took it out, and stomped on it. Picking it up, he bent the wire, and poked it into the key hole, twisting and jiggling it until the lock clicked open. He threw the trunk open, and a horrible sight met his eyes. There was a girl in the trunk, her mouth covered with tape, and her wrists bound with it. He tore the tape from her mouth, and she gasped for breath. "Wh-what happened?" she asked him faintly as he ripped at the tape around her wrists, quickly liberating them.

"I don't know- oh fuck, come on, wake up," she passed out, and he shook her. When she didn't wake up, he picked her up, and as quickly and inconspicuously as possible took her to his house. "Mom, get down her right now, Dad! Frank, I need some help!" They all three came running, as did Olive.

"Oh my god! Who is that? What happened? Is she alright?" All three bombarded him with questions.

"I don't know who it is, just someone drive us to the hospital, now!" Dwayne spoke loudly, with a great sense of urgency.

"Only one of us can go with him, we can't take the bus, it takes too much time. Sheryl, you drive Dwayne and the girl to the hospital in the Miata, the rest of us will follow in the bus." Richard barked out the orders, and everyone quickly scampered to follow them. When Dwayne, Sheryl and the girl reached the hospital, they carried her in, where nurses took her into care right away, while a secretary questioned Dwayne.

"Ok, do you know this girl?" asked the secretary.

"No, I've never seen her before in my life."

"Then how did you come into the possession of her body?" the woman asked suspiciously.

"I found her locked up in a car trunk, she was suffocating, and I didn't know what to do, so I took her to my house, and my mom drove us here."

"You found locked in a car trunk?" Dwayne nodded. "How did you get past the lock?" Instead of answering, Dwayne removed the large chunk of his retainer from his pocket where he had placed them, and showed it to her. She looked at him strangely. "Are you meaning to tell me that you broke your retainer and used the wiring to pick a lock?"

"Yes, is that not right or something?" asked Dwayne, confused.

"Hmmm," the woman raised an eyebrow. "And how old did you say you were?"

"Um, I just turned 16 about 3 weeks ago." He really didn't see what this had to do with anything. "Why though?"

"Well, that's something that under pressure most people wouldn't be able to think of."

"I wasn't thinking about it! I was trying to find something to use, and when I get nervous I play around with my retainer with my tongue, and it just came to me."

"Ok, well anyways, can you describe what you saw when you opened the trunk?" the woman sat poised, ready to write down his every word.

"I saw this girl lying there with tape over her mouth and around her wrists."

"Ok, and what did you do?"

"Like most sane people, I removed the tape from her mouth first, then her wrists. She asked me what happened, and then passed out. I panicked, and I took her out of the trunk and too my house."

"How far away from the crime scene do you live?"

"Two blocks."

"How long had the car been there?"

"I can't say for sure, but at least an hour I'd say, it was parked in a no parking zone, but it didn't have a ticket yet, so probably not too much longer then that."

"Ok, well I guess I can't really think of anything else to ask. Do you have any questions or anything?" the woman closed the note pad she had been writing in and clicked the pen shut.

"Um, well is she going to be ok? What's going to happen to her if she is ok?"

"We are trying to get a hold of her parents or legal guardian right now, and once we do, they will have to come here and help us make some decisions. Right now she is still unconscious, but thanks to you, she is going to be just fine. I know that we are not being very sympathetic people, but you should know that you did save her life, someone had it in for her. You are a very brave young man." The woman smiled at him and stood up. "Here, if you have any questions just ask for me." She handed him a card with her name and office email, number, and fax. He took the card, and nodded his head.

"I will thanks." He stood up and walked over to his mother, who was sitting in one of the waiting chairs by the desk. They sat together for a couple of minutes before, Frank, Richard and Olive walked in and joined them. Frank took Olive down to the cafeteria to get something to drink, and Richard came over to ask what was happening. Sheryl told him what they knew so far, and Dwayne just sat silently, waiting for a further update. About 20 minutes later, the doctor approached them.

"Hey guys, thanks for waiting. Well, we finally got a hold of her aunt, who is her legal guardian, and she should be here at any minute. We do however need you to stick around because she wants to talk to your son." The doctor smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh my god! What happened? Is everything alright? Where's Sarah?" A blonde middle aged woman burst through the door.

"Ah, Miss. Burke I presume?" the doctor walked over to her.

"Yes, yes I am, doctor, Schubert?"

"Yes, anyway. Sarah is going to be just fine as I told you on the phone, depending on what happened, she may be a little traumatized, and she will take a little while to recover from the physical strain, also, she may not remember what happened."

"I can't believe that I let this happen! I let her for a walk, and she didn't come back! I called the police, but they didn't find her, oh god, I am a terrible person!" Miss. Burke was crying. "Can I see her?"

"Yes, you can see her, but she is sleeping now, she came out of unconsciousness about 10 minutes ago, but she needs some sleep." The doctor started showing her to the room, but the woman stopped.

"Wait, if she's asleep, do you think that it would be possible for me to speak to the people that found her? I just want to know as much as I can."

"Yes, the family is the Hoover family, and their son Dwayne, he's the one who found your niece." The doctor showed her over to the family, who all immediately stood. Miss. Burke walked quickly over to them, and hugged Dwayne.

"Thank you so much for helping her! I can't even begin to express my gratitude." Dwayne was a little stunned by this action, he just stood there, his arms hanging by his side until she finally released him. "What happened?" she asked once she let him go. He explained the whole thing for the third time, and she gasped several times. When they finished, the doctor came up to them.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you, but she's awake now, you can go and see her. Dwayne can go too, if that's alright with you, she wants to know what happened to her, and it will seem more possible to her if he's there." The woman nodded, and the three of them walked into a room. "Ok, Sarah, you know your aunt obviously, and this is Mr. Dwayne Hoover."

"Oh, I am so glad that you are ok! I was so worried about you. Are you feeling alright? Do you remember anything?" Miss Burke went to hug Sarah.

"I um, I'm feeling fine, just a bit tired, I really don't remember much of anything at all actually. Why is he here?" she pointed at Dwayne.

"Oh honey, don't you remember? He saved your life?"

"He-he did?" asked Sarah, slightly shocked, but mostly just confused.

"Yes, he did. Her, Dwayne, come here and meet Sarah…" Miss Burke turned, but Dwayne had bolted. He wasn't prepared for something like this, and he didn't want to have to explain why he had done it. None of the adults had asked that question, but she would, and he wasn't ready to talk about that yet.

"Mom, I need some fresh air, I'll be outside the hospital, come and get me when you're ready to leave." He walked past his family and outside. He sat on a bench and plopped down, finally alone to go over what had happened in his mind. The slight breeze of the air helped to calm his thoughts, and his adrenaline rushed body. He had no idea how long he had been sitting there before his family came out, but by the looks on their faces, he guessed that it had been quite awhile.

"Dwayne honey, are you alright?" asked his mother. He stood, and she put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine mom, fine. What's going to happen? Is everything ok now? Can we go home?"

"Well, Sarah, the girl, she doesn't remember anything about what happened at all, so for the time being, we can go home, though Dania, Miss Burke invited us around for dinner tomorrow night, because Sarah can go home tomorrow afternoon, and we accepted." Richard explained everything fairly quickly.

"Did you tell them that I would be there?" asked Dwayne.

"No, we said that we weren't sure whether or not you would be able to make it. Do you want to go?" Sheryl spoke this time.

"No, not really. I mean, I just don't think I'm ready quite yet, I need some time to try to figure out for myself what happened, and I'm going to need a new retainer."

"What for honey?" Dwayne again removed the piece that he had remaining of his retainer.

"How did you think that I got the trunk door open?" His mom looked like she was on the verge of laughing, his father raised an eyebrow, Uncle Frank did laugh, and Olive was simply confused.

"Ok, well I think that getting you a new retainer won't be too difficult," said Sheryl. Dwayne nodded. "You hungry?"

"Not really, no," said Dwayne. "Let's just go home, ok?"

"Sure, sure." They all piled in to the two cars and drove home. Dwayne remained silent the whole ride, he was still in shock about what had happened. When they reached the house, he immediately went in to his room, he didn't feel like being interrogated by his family at this time. Dwayne looked around his room for something brainless to do, and eventually, he fished out a deck of playing cards from under his bed. Blocking out, or at least trying to, everything that had happened, he played solitaire, concentrating intently on the cards.

"Hey."

"Holy shit!" Dwayne said starting a little. "God, you scared me!"

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright," said Uncle Frank.

"No, it's fine, I'm fine, or I will be," Dwayne jumbled his words up.

"Still a little shaken I see." Frank sat down on his cot, and looked down at his nephew who was lying in an uncomfortable looking position on the floor.

"Yeah, I guess that's what you'd call it. I mean, this is a really strange thing to have happen to me, it's kind of surreal you know?" Dwayne looked away from his card game and focused his gaze on his uncle.

"Well honestly, I don't know. This is one of those things where no one in this house can completely identify with you." Frank spoke with the scholarly tone he used when he was discussing something serious.

"Alright, whatever, but you at least know what I mean, right?"

"Sort of I guess."

"Well there you have it then." Dwayne went back to his game.

"Ok, just let me know when you're ready to talk a little bit more."

"Uh, why?" Dwayne wasn't interested in the slightest. He didn't want to talk about anything, especially what had happened earlier.

"Because there's something important that you need to know, and I volunteered to tell you, but I want to wait until you're ready to hear it," answered Frank after contemplating his wording for a moment.

"I'm ready. If it's so important then I'd better hear it as soon as possible." Dwayne looked up again from his game, and then eased himself in to a sitting position.

"Ok, well there's going to be a fairly large change around here, and it's going to be weird, and-"

"Ok, just say it already!" Dwayne was growing more and more impatient by the minute.

"Alright, basically, Sarah Burke is going to be staying with us here for awhile."


	3. Chapter 3

"What!" Dwayne shouted, pulling himself quickly in to a standing position. "How long? Why? When?" Questions filled his head, he didn't even know where to begin.

"Well, she'll be staying here indefinitely, starting in a couple of days." Frank tried to act naturally, but Dwayne's explosive response was making him a little nervous.

"But why? We don't even know her! What about her aunt?"

"Her aunt freaked out about being a bad guardian, and she didn't think that she could handle Sarah, so she was going to have her go live with her cousins in Bangor, Maine, whom she had never met."

"Still, that doesn't explain how we got involved in this."

"Well, you see, the doctor, and Sheryl and Richard, and her aunt and I all talked and decided that a move to Bangor may not be the best thing for Sarah right now. Also, the doctor speculated that her aunt might regret her decision later, so Sheryl shocked everyone and volunteered our house as a home for Sarah for a bit."

"What the fuck? That's odd!" Dwayne wasn't quite sure how he felt about this yet.

"I know, but it's really going to help some people out, so we just need to accept it. Besides, it's not like there is anything we could do," Frank reasoned with his nephew.

"Still, it's fucked up! As if we don't have enough people living here already! Where the hell is she going to sleep!"

"Guest room I think, I dunno." Frank shrugged.

"God, so grandpa had to sleep on the couch but she'll get the room?"

"I dunno. She's a girl who's not a part of the family I guess." Dwayne didn't know what to say, so he just sat down on his bed and faced the wall. "So are you excited about this?" Frank asked after giving Dwayne some time to take everything in.

"I don't know even know her! None of us do, god damnit! When I went out for my walk earlier I did NOT see this coming:

"That doesn't answer my question."

"I know, uh, I guess I dunno. I am anxious to see how it's going to affect the family, but I honestly can't say one way or the other right now. It's all quite mystifying to me at this point." Dwayne sighed and turned back around to face his uncle.

"Yeah, well I'd like to think that we're all in a little bit of shock here, but it's so much more you then anyone else I'd assume."

"I guess so, huh." Dwayne had never expected to find a partially conscious body locked up in the trunk of a car. The whole thing had actually been borderline traumatizing, though Dwayne would never admit it. He wanted more then anything to be able to shrug it off and dismiss it as a random occurrence; he was in no way thrilled with having to deal with it as a life changing event.

"It might help to talk to someone about it, like a therapist or something," suggested Frank.

"I'm fine, I don't need a shrink. It would be a waste of money anyway, we can't even afford a therapist right now for no reason." Talking to doctor felt like the last thing Dwayne needed.

"Ok, just don't forget to tell someone if you change your mind." Frank was referring to Dwayne's slight problems displaying his feelings vocally. He was still readjusting to his recently rediscovered voice.

"I will, I mean I won't change my mind, but if I do, I'll let someone know." For the second time during their conversation, Dwayne tripped over the words he spoke as they departed his mouth.

"Ok, well, uh, just try to accept the changes I guess." Frank didn't know what else to say to Dwayne, so he got up and left the room to go and inform the rest of the family that Dwayne had received proper explanation of the situation, and to assure them that he wasn't wildly opposed to the plan.

"So he's ok with this?" asked Sheryl.

"He's choosing to reserve judgment until he's actually had to deal with the situation for awhile."

"I still don't think it's a good idea to have a teenaged girl in the house who's unrelated, I mean, he's a teenaged boy. I was a teenaged boy once, and let me tell ya, they aren't saints at all." Richard spoke, attempting to argue a case.

"Richard, it's Dwayne," said Sheryl, as if this explained everything.

"Uh, is that supposed to make in un-affected by the twisted working of the teenaged male brain?" asked Richard, skepticism showing through his words.

"Pretty much, yeah," Sheryl said.

"Sheryl, it doesn't work that way."

"Well, he's not in to girls, so I think we're ok here," said Sheryl indignantly.

"Well he's not gay," said Frank, throwing his arms up in the air, exasperated by the pointlessness of the conversation.

"How do you know?" asked Richard.

"I room share with him, and I know gay men very well. Your stepson is not gay Richard," Frank spoke slowly.

"Still! Problem at hand! Are you sure that you want a teenaged girl living in the same house as your teenaged son?" asked Richard.

"I really don't see any problems with it," Sheryl replied.

"What about the example that it would set for Olive?" asked Richard.

"Ok, if it's so important you," said Sheryl. "HEY DWAYNE! COME OUT HERE FOR A MINUTE!" she yelled.

"What?" Dwayne walked slowly out of his room.

"We need you to promise us that you won't have sex," said Sheryl, throwing a look at Richard as she spoke.

"What?" Dwayne asked again, in the exact same nonchalant tone that he had used when uttering the words just a minute ago.

"While Sarah's here, Richard's worried that you're going to have sex, so I'm telling you now, don't," explained Sheryl.

"What?" Dwayne asked again, still sounding redundant.

"Do you know any other words Dwayne?" asked Richard. "She's outlining it very clearly."

"Uh, I promise?" said Dwayne, still utterly confused and dazed.

"Is that a question? See Sheryl! I told you he'd want to!" Richard put on his I-told-you-so voice.

"No, I promise, solid promise. I'm just confused as to why you would ask me to promise you that."

"Well, you're a teenaged boy, certain desired are normal at your age," said Richard. "We just wanted to be concise with you."

"Point made, now can I go? This is awkward." Dwayne had the character trait, good or bad, you decide, of being very blunt in matters such as this.

"Yes, you may. I'm sorry that Richard sprung that on you right now. You must be very worked up and very confused," said Sheryl.

"Not really, I'm fine." Dwayne went back in to his room, his mouth wide open that the thought that Richard even suggested that he would have sex with the whose life he had just saved.

"I'm sorry, Richard's crazy," said Frank, following Dwayne in to they room.

"It's not your fault that he's mentally imbalanced," said Dwayne, pulling his shirt over the top of his head and replacing it with his red shirt, which he used for a pajama top.

"I know, but I'm still sorry that he treated you like that." Frank looked at Dwayne.

"Whatever." Dwayne put on his SAVE PLUTO boxer shorts, and tossed his short and pants in to the laundry bin.

"You're putting your PJ's on already? You usually stay up pretty late."

"Yeah, well, I'm tired."

"Don't you want to talk about earlier?" asked Frank as Dwayne tossed his books onto his nightstand from his bed, where they had been sitting.

"No."

"No need to be so harsh!"

"Oh fuck this. I'm going to bed." Dwayne crawled into his bed and pulled the covers up over his head. This signified to his uncle, and to everyone else, that he wished to be left alone. Quickly, his breathing slowed, and Frank knew that his nephew had fallen asleep. He shut the light off, not wanting to disturb Dwayne. It had been a long day for him, and Frank knew it.


	4. Chapter 4

The next couple of days were rough. Dwayne slipped back into silence, and again used his notebook to communicate. Sheryl, Frank, Richard, and Olive became worried that he had re entered his vow of silence for another long period of time. They tried to pretend as though nothing was strange as they prepared for their new guest. The guest room was cleaned no less then three times, and Sheryl ran around trying to make the rest of the house presentable for Sarah. Everyone knew that the house would only become messy again, but they still put up with Sheryl's crazy cleaning sprees. Dwayne milled around the house, picking things up and putting them where they belonged, but only when they felt with it. Other then that, the only help he offered was the cleaning of his own room, which, needless to say, was very tidy already.

At school, Dwayne's teachers were quickly becoming frustrated with his silence. Aside from his math teacher, none of them had taught him last year, so they didn't know anything of his silence, and they weren't coping too well with it. His English teacher called home to ask why he wasn't talking. Sheryl attempted to explain that he had lately experienced a rather traumatizing event in his life, and that he found comfort and solace in his silence. The teacher said that Dwayne was crazy, and Sheryl called the school to transfer Dwayne out of the class, and was successful.

Finally, it came time for Sarah's arrival. She was coming on a Saturday morning, in the latter hours just before noon. Sheryl, Frank, Richard, and Olive all sat in the front room waiting for her. Dwayne was asleep in his room. They had tried to wake him up, but he insisted that he really didn't care if this girl was coming, and that he just needed to sleep. There was a care engine running which stopped just outside their door, then a moment later Sarah and her aunt were at the door. Sarah was looking down at her feet, a forlorn look staining her elegant face. "Thank you so much for letting Sarah stay here until I can pull myself together!" her aunt gushed as Sheryl opened the door.

"Really, it's nothing, can we help you gather her things from the car?" asked Sheryl.

"Oh, yes, thank you very much." The two women walked out of the house, closely followed by Richard and Frank. Olive and Sarah stayed behind, and Sarah took the time to let herself look around the room. The room was so different from her aunt's house, and from her parents house, where she had lived prior to living with her aunt. After her eyes surveyed the room in its entirety, she looked back down at her feet.

"Ok, so your room is this way," said Frank, re entering the room with a few boxes in his arms. Richard, Sheryl, and Sarah's aunt followed him, each carrying a suitcase or some boxes. Sarah followed them in to the room, and sat down on the bed.

"Well hon, I guess that's everything, except for your school registration and transfer papers, which are right here," Sarah was handed a large manila envelope by her aunt. "Monday you're starting at Dwayne's school, but you already knew that. I love you very much, I'll come visit as often as I can." Her aunt kissed her on the top of her head.

"Bye," Sarah whispered hoarsely.

"Bye honey." Sarah walked her aunt to the door and watched as she left.

"Do you want something to eat or drink," asked Sheryl.

"No, no thank you," Sarah spoke, again with a whisper.

"OK, well what do you want to do? I would have my son show you around the area, but he's still asleep. I could wake him if you like," offered Sheryl.

"No, no it's fine. I think he's done enough for me lately. I'm just going to go and unpack a little."

"Great, just let me know if you need or want anything, ok?"

"Ok, thank you so much for everything." Sarah headed back to her room, and carefully began setting her clothes in to drawers.

"Hey, do you want any help?" Sarah jumped, and turned to see Olive standing in the doorway.

"Oh, thank you, that would be wonderful," Sarah spoke softly; her heart still racing from the scare the small girl had given her.

"Are you feeling better then when we were in the hospital?" Olive asked, as she kneeled and began to sort the clothes into the various drawers where Sarah had deemed the clothes belonged.

"Yes, much better thank you." Sarah smiled a weak smile and kept working.

"You know, you really scared Dwayne," said Olive.

"I did didn't I, I really didn't mean to, I swear, I just…" Sarah sounded very apologetic.

"It's ok, he'll be fine, nothing like this has ever happened before to him. He just doesn't know how to handle it, so he turned back to his food friend silence to help him," Olive explained.

"He has a friend named silence?" asked Sarah, curiously.

"Sort of, I meant silence as in not talking, he doesn't speak anymore."

"What? I didn't cause that, did I?" Sarah was shocked and upset as she heard this news.

"Oh, he's done it before, I think he'll be ok in a few days. This is all very weird to him." Olive smiled at Sarah.

"Uh, ok, I hope I haven't like hurt him or something, maybe I should go talk to him," Sarah rose slowly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you…"

"Why not?"

"He's very, very antisocial. He's always better off left alone. He doesn't have any friends outside the family, and I don't think we exactly count. He only likes me and Frank, his mom bugs him, and my dad is his step dad, so he's had sort of a rough life." Olive finished off with a deep breath.

"Oh, ok, I think I'll give him his space then. The two girls continued to unpack Sarah's clothes, books, and other things all afternoon, breaking only for an hour to eat lunch. Dwayne stayed in his room, even after he had woken, and did his homework. He didn't feel that he was quite ready to face Sarah yet.

"DINNER!" Sheryl called. Everyone sprang from where they had been quite quickly, everyone that is, except for Dwayne. "Dwayne! You have to come out here and eat! You don't have to say anything, but you get out here now!" hollered Sheryl. Dwayne came out of his room, walking slowly as if he had a limp in both legs. The silence was almost deafening as everyone sat down and started passing around the food.

"So Sarah, are you excited to start at your new school?" asked Richard.

"I suppose, yes." Sarah stared at the friend chicken and corn lying on the plate in front of her. Another silence consumed the group, all you could hear was the sound of people eating. Sarah looked up at Dwayne, and then quickly tore her eyes away from his tragic face. He didn't see her looking at him.

"Does anyone want to play a game after dinner?" asked Olive, breaking the silence much to everyone's relief.

"I will," offered Frank.

"Yeah, me too," said Sheryl.

"After I clean up the kitchen, sure, why not," said Richard. Sarah nodded yes and smiled. All eyes turned to Dwayne, who gave his answer by lifting his body from his chair, and stalking back to his room.

"O…K…I guess he won't be joining us," said Frank.

"It's ok, he'll be better soon, at least I hope so," said Sheryl.

"I'll try talking to him later," said Frank.

"Great." They all finished dinner, then everyone helped to clean up before tucking into a rather competitive Clue ™ tournament. Richard ended up being the over all champion, though Sarah, who was shockingly competitive, gave him a run for his money. They all enjoyed the game, but everyone felt that without Dwayne, something was missing. At about 11, everyone dispersed and went to their respective rooms.

"You missed one hell of a Clue ™ tournament just now," said Richard as he entered the room he shared with his nephew. Dwayne rolled over and blinked three times at his uncle, his eyes depicting, clearly to Frank, that he just didn't care. "Listen, we all want you to talk again. I know that it may be scary after what happened, but did it occur to you ever that shutting everyone out may not be the right way to get over it." Frank changed in to his pajamas while he let Dwayne think, then sat on his cot, facing him as he thought. "Silence is good in moderation, though to the extreme in which you take it, it's almost nonsensical," Frank spoke accusatorily.

"FINE! I'll talk some, happy? Now just get off my case why don't you!" Dwayne said loudly, almost yelling, but keeping it in out of consideration for Olive.

"Ok, fine." Dwayne reached over and shut the light off, relishing in the almost total darkness that surrounded him, it was almost as good as silence.


	5. Chapter 5

Monday marked the start of school for Sarah, and as it drew to be the day, she was a little nervous. Richard drove her and Dwayne to the high school in total silence. Dwayne still hadn't spoken to Sarah, and she feared greatly that she had done something wrong, or that he hated her for what had happened. When she arrived at school, she immediately went to the office to get things sorted out. She found her classes were quite easy to get caught up in, and by lunch, she was feeling very much at home, though she spoke to nearly no one, because she was still mildly traumatized by what had happened.

Dwayne sat at his usual table in the cafeteria all alone, with his brown bag lunch, as was the norm. He always sat alone, and if anyone went to sit with him, he stared at them until they got up and left. Some of the kids had made a game of it. They would bet each other how long each person could sit at Dwayne's table until his stare creeped them out too much to stay there. The longest anyone had lasted was fifteen minutes, the shortest time was three minutes. It killed Dwayne inside when they played this game, but he acted as though it didn't affect him.

Sarah entered the cafeteria, clutching her lunch tightly in her hands. Her eyes journeyed through the cafeteria, looking for a good place to sit. Her eyes fell on Dwayne sitting alone a table. Deciding that he probably wanted to be left alone, especially by her, she looked around for another place to sit. Finally, it didn't look to her as though there were any where else for her to go to eat, so she walked over and sat down a Dwayne's small table, as far away from him as the diameter of the table would allow.

Hearing the gasps and whispers circulating the room all of a sudden, Dwayne looked up. To his mild surprise, he saw Sarah sitting diagonally across from at his table, just about as far away from him as she could be. "Oh my god! That new girl is going to try to sit with Dwayne! This should be interesting!" one girl giggled from her place a table, crowded over with very popular looking people. Her friends all nodded and laughed around her.

"Um, it is ok if I sit with you right?" asked Sarah timidly. Dwayne thought for a moment, then gave her a half nod. The whole cafeteria grew silent as she sat, waiting for Dwayne to begin staring her down. When he chose to go back to his food instead, the whole cafeteria erupted in to chaotic noise.

"Why isn't he kicking her out?" one boy said to the girl sitting next to him.

"Duh! I think he likes her! It's so cute! Especially for him!" squealed the girl in response. The boy made a face at her that displayed mild disgust, and vibrant disbelief that any girl, even a girl as pretty and enigmatic as this girl, could capture Dwayne's attention in a positive matter.

"Thanks for letting me sit here with you. I guess it's not something that you really do too often…" whispered Sarah. Dwayne just looked at her for a moment, then he went back to his food. Sarah followed suit. She felt terrible that she had caused Dwayne to fall back in to his silence and discomfort, but she had no idea what to do about it. As her day dragged on, she made up her mind to try and talk to Dwayne later, and whether he responded or not, she was going to make sure that he knew both how grateful she was, but also how sorry she felt. The took the bus home from school, the # 16, just as Sheryl had told Sarah they would. Dwayne, being used to this, sat in the far back corner of the bus, immersing himself into an encyclopedia sized volume containing a compilation of the teachings and writings of Nietzsche. Sarah sat a few seats ahead of him and pretend to be reading Hamlet, though her thoughts were very clearly else where. They got off of the bus, and Dwayne walked a few paces ahead of her, slowing his gait just enough for her to keep up, as long as she stayed a few feet behind him. They would be the first ones home by about an hour. Dwayne always saw this as a good opportunity to get his homework done, and immediately went to work at his desk.

"What," said Dwayne in annoyed fashion as Sarah knocked on his door not 15 minutes after they had gotten home.

"Oh, if this is a bad time, then I can…well, yeah…" she trailed off. From outside the room, she could hear papers shuffling around.

"No, it's ok, come in," he opened the door to grant her entrance. "Sorry if I was rude, I'm just…I dunno…tired I guess," he tried to explain his feelings in a manner that didn't accuse her of causing them.

"Don't worry about it, I understand. I came to tell you a couple of things," she said softly. "And if I don't say them now, I don't know if I will be able to later." She took a deep breath. "First off, I wanted to apologize."

"Uh, what for?"

"For intruding on your life, and for, well, I guess for scaring you," she whispered, looking at the ground.

"It's not your fault, it just happened that's all." Dwayne wasn't sure who's fault it was, but if wasn't hers, and that was good enough for him. "Is that it?"

"No, that's not it. I haven't said thank you yet, so I figured that I should probably do that so…thank you so much Dwayne." She finally managed to unglue her eyes from the floor, and looked up at Dwayne. He was looking down at her, as his eye level was roughly six inches over the top of her head.

"I didn't do anything," argued Dwayne.

"Ok, shut the fuck up!" Sarah's yelling completely threw Dwayne off guard. "You don't think you did anything? Dwayne! You saved my life! Without you, I would be dead. It wasn't even your place! You didn't know me, you could have just as easily left me to die, but you didn't! I may not know why I was in that car, but I know I was being killed. I'm only here because of you, so quit insisting that you didn't do anything!" When Sarah finished, she was gasping for breath, and her face was bright red. Dwayne just stared at her. He hadn't seen it quite that way before. "Oh- oh my god, I am so sorry. It wasn't, I just, it wasn't my place to yell like that." Her voice grew shaky, and she allowed a few stray tears to run down her cheeks.

"It's ok, just don't worry about it, and definitely don't cry." Dwayne spoke softly to her in a tone which he usually kept reserved for Olive. Sarah just couldn't help herself. She closed the two or three foot gap between them and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. He was clueless as to what to do, so he just stood there all stiff for a second, and then he put his arms awkwardly around her, trying to comfort her. Strangely enough, he felt a new sense of closure waft over him just then. Sarah felt a shiver shoot up her spine as his arms encircled her, and she felt safe, as though who ever it was that had been trying to kill her wouldn't have been able to touch her if he had been there.

"I'm sorry, I just feel really alone right now, and confused to boot. I've never been this scared before," Sarah admitted as she left Dwayne break the hug.

"Well, if I were you, I would be scared too. I mean you're basically missing a few hours out of your life. If that's not scary, then what the hell is?" Dwayne stood awkwardly, a few steps away from her.

"I dunno, I just don't know," she shrugged.

"Hey, I'm sorry that I am the way I am, it's just, well, the way that I am obviously. My mother took me away from my father when I was really young, and ran off to marry Richard almost right away, then they had Olive, and yeah…" Dwayne trailed off, thinking to himself, _Now why did I tell her that? A stranger I just met a few days ago? _Dwayne never spoke of his childhood to anyone, it had always been a sore spot with him.

"I'm really, really sorry Dwayne. If it helps, I like you as you are."

"You don't know me yet." Dwayne said. "What happened to your parents?" The words just tumbled out of his mouth, much to his horror.

"Oh, well, they died, and I sort of tried to block it out, it was a car wreck, but I don't remember much else, I was really, really small. I don't remem-" Sarah was cut off as again the gap between then was breached, and Dwayne was kissing her.


	6. Chapter 6

Sarah kissed him back for a moment before pulling away from him. "Ok, what's going on," she demanded.

"I haven't got a fucking clue," answered Dwayne, looking at her and breathing deeply.

"Ok then, so should we maybe think about this?" she asked.

"Uh, no, I would say to hell with it, you?" she responded by moving back towards him and pressing her lips up against his. From there, it wasn't long until Dwayne, his arms wrapped low on Sarah's waist, felt her tongue pushing gently against his teeth. He smiled internally, and opened his mouth a little bit. Sarah's hands rested gently on his shoulders. Neither knew what was happening, but they were both so distracted by each other that neither of them heard the front door of the house opening.

Frank began walking back to his room. He expected to find Dwayne either reading or doing his homework as he always was at this time of day, at least during the week. The first surprise that met his eyes was to see that the door of the room was open. From the middle of the hallway, Frank could see light coming from the room. As he turned in to the doorway, Frank was flabbergasted to see Dwayne with his arms wrapped around a skinny brunette, kissing her like she was all there was anywhere to him. His mouth hung open in awe, wondering who the girl was. Then it clicked, his nephew was with Sarah, and while there standing up, still only kissing, he began to wonder whether Richard's skepticism towards this situation had been unprecedented. They didn't seem to notice him, so he backed out of the doorway in a state of shock. Then he retreated to the living room, and promptly decided to give Sarah and Dwayne fair warning that people were going to start coming home soon. He got up, walked over to the front door, opened it, then slammed it shut.

"Holy shit!" said Sarah, jumping back when she heard the crash.

"Fuck, Frank must be home." Dwayne went to his back pack, pulled out his math book, paper, two pencils, and his calculator out of it and tossed them on to the floor. Then he lay down on the ground, his stomach pressing against the floor, and motioned for Sarah to join him. He opened up the book and scribbled some equations on to the paper.

"Wow, you're very quick to cover this up, and very good at it too, has this happened a lot before?" asked Sarah, joining him on the floor.

"Not even once, I'm a quick thinker. If Frank comes in, just pretend to be explaining the problems to me, ok?" He smiled.

"Ok, deal." Sarah paused. "Wait, so you've never dealt with Frank coming home while you had a girl in your room, or you've never had a girl in your room for him to walk in on?" asked Sarah.

"Uh, the latter, I've never kissed a girl before," Dwayne answered him his blunt manner that so well epitomized his character. "Have you kissed other boys before?" he asked, judging from her seeming experience that he already knew the answer.

"Well yeah, I have, I wasn't as shy as I am now before the accident. Wow, I just can't believe that was your first kiss! It was good!"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not too well liked at school, and I don't socialize, so how would I have had a kiss before?" asked Dwayne.

"I dunno, people find ways."

"Huh, I guess that's true. Well I was never really attracted to anyone before either, I don't have a fucking clue as to happened to me."

"Well, I think it helps that I wasn't feeling incredibly shy at that time."

"Yeah, that was kinda weird. You seemed so shy, and then, well, you weren't, you know…" Dwayne looked at the ceiling.

"I'm not shy, I'm scared, really, really scared. The thing is, I feel really safe when you're around, like no one could touch me. It's probably because you saved my life, but still, I dunno, it's weird." This was followed by an awkward silence that seemed to last hours.

"So really have no idea of what happened?" asked Dwayne, finally ending the silence.

"Honestly, no. I mean there are bits and pieces, but nothing strong enough to tell me what happened." Sarah sighed.

"I'm sorry." There was another moment of silence. "Do you think whoever locked you in the trunk is going to try to hurt you again?"

"I really don't know, I hope not, but maybe. My temporary housing location may throw them off though, which would be good," said Sarah. "You know, for someone who seems so reserved, you are astoundingly forward."

"Yeah, sorry about that, it's just something that I do, I never could avoid it." Dwayne rolled over on to his side and looked at her.

"Well, at least you're honest, which leads me to something else, this was an accident, right? It's not going to happen again is it?" asked Sarah.

"No, no, of course not. I dunno what this was, but we're just friends, sort of, if you can even call us that." Dwayne's words hurt Sarah, she was hoping for something a little more reassuring then that. What she wanted more then anything was someone who truly cared about her, and it didn't look to her at the moment that Dwayne was going to be that person.

"So, this is going to seem random, but what's your natural hair color?"

"Medium dark brown, see?" Dwayne moved the hair covering his for head off to the side, revealing his eyebrows, which remained un dyed.

"That's a really nice color, why'd you dye it black?"

"I dunno, I just like it that way," Dwayne shrugged, and Sarah nodded. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, a little." Dwayne pulled himself to his feet, and then helped Sarah up. Then they walked in to the kitchen/living room area where Frank was.

"Hey. What were you two up to? I noticed that Sarah wasn't in her room when I went to check on her."

"Oh, she was helping me with my math." Dwayne said as he pulled out two cans of soda and cold macaroni salad from the fridge. He handed one can of soda to Sarah, then fished around for some forks in the silverware drawer and handed one to everyone so that they could eat the salad.

"I was explaining direct variation and inverse variation," said Sarah, recalling to her memory what had been on the page that she had been "helping" Dwayne with. When Frank looked away for a second, she shot Dwayne a wink.

"Oh, good, good," Frank played along, not wanting to compromise them in case Sheryl or Richard got home early.

"Yeah," said Dwayne as he popped the lid on his soda open and took a long gulp.

"Did you have a good first day Sarah?" asked Frank.

"Yeah, it was all a little startling, very different from my old school. I did have really easy classes though, probably my aunt wanted to make things easier for me," said Sarah, trying to mimic the timid tone that had been real an hour ago. Some how though, being around Dwayne now totally killed her ability to be scared, she could speak her mind around him, so she just hoped that Frank would fail to notice.

"Well, I'm glad that you liked it. Did you make any new friends?"

"No, not really. I was mainly concentrating on school, and it's not like Dwayne could introduce me to his friends," said Sarah. Frank laughed.

"I choose not to have friends, ok?" Dwayne said seriously. "I just don't really like people that much."

"Yeah, but everyone needs friends, or at least one good friend," said Sarah.

"I have Olive, and I have Frank," said Dwayne, taking another sip of his soda.

"Yeah, but you can't talk to them about _everything_ can you?" asked Sarah, dragging out the 'everything' to roughly twice its usual length.

"Surprisingly enough, between the two of them, I can say everything that needs to be said." Sarah looked at Dwayne, one eyebrow raised, then turned back to her snack. The three of them stood around the kitchen as an awkward silence took the room by force. Frank began drumming his fingers against the counter, creating a loud, but hollow sounding noise. "Ok, cut that out." Dwayne thumped his hand on top of Frank's, causing the noise to cease, and Frank to glare at him.

"Ok then," said Frank, and silence took the room again.

"Uh, I'm gonna go do my homework," said Sarah, unable to cope with the awkwardness anymore.

"Ok, see you later," said Frank, and Dwayne just nodded in her direction, giving her a miniscule smile. Sarah turned and walked away from the kitchen. "So Dwayne, I wasn't aware that you were struggling in math," said Frank, accusatorily staring at his nephew.

"Oh I'm not really, it's just that this one chapter is a little difficult to understand."

"Well that's strange, because I don't ever remember taking a math class where there was a chapter that involved sticking your tongue down a classmate's throat."


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N ok, so I am getting hits on every chapter, which means that someone is actually reading this. YAY! I'm not asking my anonymous reader to review, but if you wouldn't mind messaging me, just so that I can get some criticism of some sort, that would be most appreciated.**_

_**Love,**_

**_Havah_**

Dwayne stared at his uncle in awe, his mouth hanging open a mile long in a great sense of shock. "You- you, um, uh, I," Dwayne stammered, unable to string together a fully functioning sentence.

"Yes Dwayne, I saw you two," said Frank, smiling at the look of terror and shock on his nephews face, "and I would like to congratulate you on finally doing something that comes normally to teenagers. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever get a life."

"So you're not going to tell anyone?" asked Dwayne.

"No, well, not as long as you two keep it vertical. Olive's grandpa is a liar, sex before college is never a good plan, well, unless you're positive you are in love, but if that happens, you didn't hear it from me.:

"Huh, that's funny, I've always heard no sex before _marriage,_" joked Dwayne. "Besides, it's not gonna happen again, it was an accident, we don't have any feelings for each other or anything, we just go caught up in the moment."

"Well, I dunno if she has feelings for you, but you definitely have feelings for her."

"Ok, now you've lost me. What the fuck are you talking about?" Dwayne looked at his uncle in confusion.

"You didn't think I'd noticed Dwayne? Wow! I thought for sure you wouldn't think no one would notice!"

"Uh, notice what?"

"You've started brushing your hair," Frank stated matter of fact-ly.

"What? That's bullshit! Why would I do that?" Dwayne defended him self.

"You're brushing your hair because you want to look slightly more presentable, and you probably thought that something so small would pass undetected inside the family.

"You have no proof!" said Dwayne, indignation lacing his voice as his uncle stared at him.

"I don't? Well what about the hairbrush that you have hidden underneath your pillow?"

"I don't have a hairbrush hidden underneath my pillow! You are so full of shit!" said Dwayne, annoyed.

"Then you surely wouldn't have any problems with me checking." Frank started to move towards their room. Unfortunately for him, he didn't get too far. Dwayne ran at him, and tackled him to the ground, then he stood up and ran to the room. He lay down on his bed, pressing his head against the pillow. Frank ran in quickly and looked down at Dwayne, he opened his mouth to speak to his nephew, but he didn't get the chance.

"Is everything ok?" Sarah ran into the room, her face flushed. "I heard a loud thump, and I wanted to make sure everything was ok."

"Oh, that was me, sorry, I dropped Swann's Way," said Frank. "It's a heavy book, made a loud noise."

"Oh, ok. Dwayne, are you feeling ok?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, why?"

"Well, you're lying down and you have a strange look on your face," she explained.

"Oh, Dwayne's almost always lying down, and that stupid look on his face, he has that on a lot, it's just part of who he is," interjected Frank.

"Shut up Frank." Dwayne scowled at his uncle as Sarah laughed at their dynamic.

"Ok, well if no one's hurt then I'm going to go back to work. Frank, maybe try to keep a firmer grip on your book in the future?"

"I'll try, sorry if we freaked you out."

"It's fine. Dwayne, feel better, ok?" joked Sarah.

"I will, thanks," said Dwayne as Sarah exited the room. Frank looked at Dwayne skeptically. "Ok, fine, you win, I brushed my hair, just don't tell anyone please," pleaded Dwayne.

"HA! I KNEW IT! Also, I promise not to tell."

"Thanks," Dwayne got up off of his bed. "And in response to what you said earlier, I don't even know if I have a thing for Sarah, but I might. Just don't treat either of us any differently. I'm in the doghouse for the rest of my life if Richard finds out about earlier."

"Don't worry, I like you better then Richard as it is, I don't want him to be mad at you."

"Ok, thanks a lot."

"You know, Sarah's really brightened up. You seem to have a very strange and interesting effect on her."

"No, that's just her, how she was before the accident; she's just trying to get back in to it."

"Well then you bring her old manner of life out of her, you help her back in to who she used to be," insisted Frank.

"Whatever you say, I think she's just loosening up a little bit." Dwayne was trying to convince Frank that he wasn't having an influence on Sarah, though of course he sort of was.

"And I think that you're the one who makes her feel comfortable enough to loosen up, but if you want to deny that you are having an effect on her, go ahead and deny it, I won't argue."

"Ok then, I deny it, there." Dwayne began to actually work on his homework.

"Ok, that's enough for me then, what are you working on?"

"English essay," answered Dwayne, not lifting his eyes from the paper.

"What about?"

"Hamlet, it's a subjective essay, we're supposed to take one of the prompts and just write on it."

"What's your prompt?"

"Say what you think drove Ophelia in to the madness that resulted in her committing suicide," said Dwayne, reading the prompt from his yellow instruction sheet.

"What's your theory?" asked Frank curiously.

"She was in love with a man who either didn't, or couldn't love her back, and she simply didn't see how she could possibly live her life without him in it," said Dwayne.

"Well I find that to be a believable thesis, just keep my name out of the essay, remember, there is no Frank in Hamlet," Frank knew Dwayne had drawn his conclusion from Frank's past experiences.

"I'll remember, trust me, I know you aren't the same person as Ophelia. After all, she didn't fail to kill herself, and you obviously did."

"That I cannot deny, but I'm glad I failed, now stop talking to me and get back to work." Dwayne chuckled a little as his uncle castigated him for procrastinating, then he went back to work.

"You know what? I don't see a point in biology! I don't care if I can dissect a frog accurately or not," said Dwayne to Frank about an hour later.

"Yeah, it never served of any use to me to have that information," Frank looked at Dwayne, who was smiling. "You know what? Forget me, you're going to compromise yourself!"

"Huh?"

"You're genuinely happy; I don't think you've stopped smiling since I got home, even while you were complaining about biology being pointless."

"Fuck, I have? I didn't even notice," Dwayne wiped the smile off of his face.

"That's better, just watch out, I don't want you in trouble, or for that matter, Sarah, she's had enough trouble lately."

"Ya think?" said Dwayne. He paused for a moment, and a look of concentration spreading across his face, a look that Frank wasn't used to at all. "What if it's not over?" he asked a moment later.

"What if what's not over?" asked Frank, clearly bamboozled by the look on Dwayne's face.

"What if someone tries to hurt Sarah again? I mean we know nothing about how hurt her. The license plate on the car was a dead end, the car was stolen, it could have been taken by anyone. There could still be someone out there trying to kill her."

"BOYS! GIRLS! DINNER!" called Sheryl.

"We'll finish this conversation later, ok? For now let's just go eat, I'm hungry," said Frank. Dwayne nodded, and the two of them walked out of the room and towards the kitchen, where everyone else was already waiting to eat dinner.


	8. Chapter 8

"How was school?" Richard asked universally.

"Fine," said Dwayne, giving no more then his usual one word answer.

"It was good, gave me something to think about for a change," said Sarah.

"That's great! Are you and Dwayne in any of the same classes?" asked Sheryl.

"Math," she responded. Frank smiled to himself, luckily, no one else saw him but Dwayne.

"Olive? What about you?" Dwayne asked in an attempt to pull the focus away from him self and Sarah.

"It was fun, we learned about mythology, which was pretty cool," said Olive, her face glowing with such genuine happiness that the other people at the table couldn't resist smiling.

"Ah, Hercules," said Frank. "Almost as good as Proust." Everyone laughed, except for Olive, who didn't understand what was so funny.

"Ok, so this question's for Dwayne," said Sarah, smiling. "So, I've heard that Friedrich Nietzsche may have influenced Nazism, where do you stand on that?" The table grew quiet, she had struck a nerve, now they were waiting to see how Dwayne reacted.

"No, absolutely not, I don't believe that he did," said Dwayne. He wanted to smile simply because she was speaking his language, even if it was just a little, but he knew he had to act as though everything was just as it had been.

"Well, it can be reasonably argues that he did," she said.

"Yes, maybe, but it can also be seen that the Nazi's would have done what they done with or without his teachings, there's no proof to absolutely say for sure that he was entirely, or partially, to blame for the atrocities that the Nazi's were responsible for." Dwayne had turned in his chair so that he was facing Sarah, who was sitting next to him. His face had become slightly red, as he became a little worked up. Sarah looked at him, she was quite taken with the way he stood up for what he believed in. Unable to resist, she leaned over and kissed him, which, naturally, surprised everyone. The whole table was staring at them. They were stopped before they got too far, however, by Richard dropping his fork, causing Dwayne and Sarah to break apart immediately.

"Ok, what was that?" asked Richard.

"Olive, honey, why don't you go to room for a minute while we talk to Dwayne," suggested Sheryl. Olive obediently got up, though she didn't want to.

"We were just trying to piss off Richard," said Dwayne, again thinking quickly when in the spot.

"Uh huh, sure," said Richard skeptically.

"What? Is that so unbelievable?" asked Frank, smiling.

"Come to think of it, not, it's not, but tongue Dwayne? I didn't even know you knew how to kiss."

"I didn't," said Dwayne.

"But he sure as hell does now," laughed Sarah.

"So this was all staged just to piss of Richard?" asked Sheryl.

"Uh, duh," said Sarah, giving Sheryl a look that said 'like I would kiss him for any other reason'.

"Ok, well considering that it's Dwayne, I believe you," said Sheryl. "Richard?"

"I don't like the reason behind it, but I honestly don't think that Dwayne could land a girl like Sarah," said Richard, "so as long as you don't do it again, I have no reason not to believe you."

"Ok, well now that that's settled, Dwayne, apologize to Richard please," said Sheryl.

"Uh, sorry," said Dwayne, though he clearly didn't mean a word he was saying.

"Olive, you can come back out now and finish eating!" called Richard. Olive did so, and the dinner went on. Somehow, under the table, Sarah's left hand found Dwayne's right, and as they connected, a flash of electricity bolted through both of them. Sarah smiled quickly at Dwayne, then let go of his hand, god forbid his family should notice. Richard and Sheryl were left to clean up the kitchen as Sarah agreed readily to watch a movie with Olive, and Dwayne and Frank retreated back to their room to finish their conversation from before dinner.

"Well, I'd say that you've sorted your feelings out a little more," said Frank once they were out of earshot.

"Yeah, I guess so. God, why did I let that happen! Talk about awkward," said Dwayne.

"You just couldn't control it, it happens! Just try to contain yourselves next time. I don't think that you two, no matter how clever you are, can fool Richard and Sheryl again."

"We'll try to be more careful…"

"Good, anyways, back to earlier," said Frank. "So you're worried that someone might be coming after Sarah again?"

"Well yeah, it's a possibility, I mean they weren't caught, and we don't know why someone was trying to kill her, so they might come back to finish the job."

"Do you think it was hit? Or just some crazy psychopath or what?" asked Frank.

"Honestly, I don't know, but it would be good if we could at least try to find out. If it was in anyway planned out, then Sarah may not be safe here much longer."

"Do you think that she'll ever be able to remember?"

"I dunno, but I hope we can get it out of her." Dwayne shook his head and raked his fingers slowly through his shaggy hair.

"Well, if anyone can get her to talk, I'm going to bet that that person would be you."

"Yeah, you're probably right, I hate to be cocky, but I think I have a shot."

"It's interesting to see this change occur in you," said Frank.

"Uh, what change?"

"You becoming interested in girls, well interested in a girl, and for once caring about someone outside of your family," explained Frank.

"Huh," was all that Dwayne could think of to say. The conversation ended there.

Dwayne finished his homework, then got ready for bed, following this act up with a little reading before shutting the light off. He heard Frank fall asleep, and then begin to snore. This might have been onerous to Dwayne if he actually thought that he would be able to sleep, but that didn't look like an option quite yet. His eyes were on the ceiling but he was actually staring in to the darkness as though in a trance. _What the fuck is happening to me? Why does she make me feel as though my stomachs gone? Why do I want her to be happy so bad? To be safe? This is officially fucked up! _Dwayne placed one hand on his stomach just to make sure that it was still there, of course it was, and he smiled. Then he rolled on to his side, threw a pillow at Frank, who immediately stopped snoring, and closed his eyes, eventually falling in to a light sleep.

"Frank, did you hear that?" Dwayne woke with a start.

"Hear what?" asked Frank groggily, and it became clear to Dwayne that it had been him that woke Frank off, not any noises.

"Nothing, never mind, go back to sleep." Frank flopped back down on his cot and almost immediately fell back asleep. Dwayne got out of bed quickly and went to pursue the noise he had heard. Instinctively, he checked Olive's room first, but she was still sound asleep, so he went to Sarah's room, where he almost had a head on collision with Richard. They both looked inside of the room and saw Sheryl shaking Sarah lightly.

"Sarah, wake up honey, you're having a bad dream."

"DON'T LET THEM TOUCH ME! NOOOO! LET ME GO! HELP! DON'T HURT ME! PLEASE!" cried Sarah, writhing in her bed.

"Sarah! It's not real, wake up!" Sheryl tried to wake the girl again, but to no avail. Sarah still insisted that someone was trying to hurt her.

"Let me try," said Dwayne, pushing past Richard and next to Sheryl.

"Sarah, wake up, no one is going to hurt you, not while I'm here." He placed one hand firmly on her shoulder to steady her twisting and turning. With his other hand, he took her hand and squeezed it tightly. She woke with a start, sweat and tears drenching her face.

"Shh, shh, it's ok, you're ok," said Sheryl, trying to calm her fast, heave breathing. Richard left the room once he saw that she had woken up.

"I'm sorry that I woke everyone," said Sarah once she had taken a few minutes to recall her surroundings and calm down. "You should go back to bed, I'm so, so sorry."

"Ok, but if you need anything, don't hesitate to let me know," said Sheryl. She placed her hand on Dwayne's shoulder and they walked back in to the hallway together. Once Sheryl had closed the door to her room, Dwayne turned back and quietly went to Sarah.


	9. Chapter 9

"Why didn't you go back to bed?" asked Sarah, who was sitting up in bed, her face pale and hair a mess.

"I was worried about you, that must have been some hellish nightmare." He sat down on the foot of her bed.

"I don' really remember, but yeah, I guess I was…I'm sorry that I woke you."

"Don't be, all that matters is if you're ok, so are you? Be honest."

"I don't know, I'm scared still." She didn't need to say that, Dwayne could note the fear in her voice.

"Did you hear what I said when I was trying to wake you up?"

"No, I'm sorry, I don't. What did you say?"

"I said that I wouldn't let anyone touch you while I was around, that I wouldn't let any harm come to you, and I stick to that. You're going to be ok," Dwayne soothed her. He scooted up the bed and put his right arm around her shoulder, and then he circled his left arm across her chest, rubbing his left hand up and down her right arm. She rested her head on his shoulder, and he kissed the top of her head. He felt so different then he had ever felt in his life, and was displaying a sensitivity that he had never even shown to Olive.

"You don't have to do that, I don't even know you, and you don't know me, why would you be obligated to protect me?" she asked. Though she felt great comfort in his words, she still questioned them.

"Well, because I, uh, um, because I feel differently about you then I have ever felt in my life, and I'm not in love with you yet, but I think that I could fall in love with you." Dwayne had totally lost control of the words that toppled out of him. He was frightened that had said the wrong thing, but the words were irrevocable, and he knew it.

"Really?" said Sarah, tilting her head up to look him in the eye, but she found he was looking away.

"Yeah, I guess so, god, I didn't mean to say that out loud, sorry…" Dwayne trailed off and looked back to Sarah.

"No, I'm glad that you did, and just to let you know, what you're experiencing could be called a crush," she said amiably.

"So that's what it feels like. Wow, 16 years old and I'm just now beginning to feel like this."

"Well maybe you're just a late bloomer, but don't worry, roses in the winter stand out beautifully in the snow." Sarah smiled as Dwayne moved his face closer to hers, ending the movement by catching her lips in his, then he lifted his head again.

"I appreciate the sentiment," he said, "but guys don't really like being compared to flowers, at least not straight guys." This caused them both to smile.

"I'll try and remember that," she laughed a little.

"I see that you're feeling better," said Dwayne.

"Much, you really know how to make me feel better, and you've barely had a chance to talk to me and learn my interests."

"I'm glad I could help, I just want you to be able to sleep at night without having to worry about anything." He rocked her back and forth in his arms ever so slightly.

"You know what?" she asked after a few minutes of silence.

"What?" asked Dwayne quietly.

"I have a thing for you."

"Why?" Dwayne asked; he saw nothing appealing about himself.

"You're nice, smart, sometimes funny, sensitive when you want to be, you love parts of your family, and you're kind of cute, in your own way of course, which just so happens to be a way that I like," she blushed a little, but in the dark of the room he couldn't see the red flush her cheeks.

"Wow, no one's ever said any of those things to me before," Dwayne was touched, as well as shocked, to hear her words.

"What do you want to do about us?"

"Let's decide that sometime when we're both a little more awake, but if you wanted to, I think we could keep it from Richard, mom, and Olive."

"What about Frank?" asked Sarah.

"Frank…uh, Frank already knows." Dwayne sighed. "He saw us earlier when we were in my room."

"What! How?"

"I don't know, but its ok, he's not going to tell anyone," Dwayne assured her.

"Yeah, he seems like the kind of guy who would be ok with us being together."

"He's understanding, but he also sees that we're teenagers, and that stuff like this is what we are supposed to be doing."

"I like Frank, quite a bit, what's his deal?"

"How do you mean?"

"What's he doing living here with you guys? He seems like he would be perfectly successful on his own," Sarah was clearly confused.

"Oh, well he, uh, tried to kill himself, but he's ok now, don't worry about it." Dwayne spoke quickly, not wanting to burden Sarah with any un necessary information.

"Oh my god! At least he's ok! What happened?"

"He got dumped, lost his job, stuff like that." Dwayne didn't want to spell it all out. "You should try and get some sleep." He released Sarah from him arms, and adjusted his sitting position so that his back was being supported by the headboard on Sarah's bed. She lay down slowly, handing a pillow up to Dwayne so that his back wouldn't be touching the hard wood. Dwayne pulled her blankets up to his waist, and a moment later, Sarah laid her head in his lap. Silently, he looked down at her, absent mindedly stroking her hair, and letting her green eyes bore in to his brown ones. They stayed like that, him soothing her until she fell asleep, then he gently moved her head from his lap and on to her pillow, and eased himself from her bed. With a light, breezy kiss to her forehead, he stood and walked almost silently back to his room, where he climbed in to bed.

He didn't notice Frank looking over at him. His uncle was wondering where Dwayne had been during the past chunk of time. Frank bit his tongue, fighting the urge to wake his nephew, who had quickly fallen asleep, to make sure that everything was ok. Eventually, sleep took Frank again, but he wasn't without the suspicion that his nephew had broken a few of the unspoken house rules that had been made when it was decided that Sarah would be staying with them. The next morning, he woke early so that he could speak with Dwayne.

"Hey, where were you last night?" asked Frank as Dwayne was getting ready for school.

"Oh, remember that noise I heard?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Sarah was having a violent nightmare; I just stayed with her until she went to sleep," answered Dwayne.

"Does Sheryl know?" asked Frank.

"Yeah, well, sort of, she was woken by Sarah's cries too, but once she was assured that everything was alright, she went to bed."

"She left you alone in Sarah's room?!" Frank sounded surprised.

"Uh, well, not exactly, she thinks that I went back to bed also, but obviously, I didn't, so don't tell her, ok?" Dwayne pressured Frank to keep his secret.

"Well, that all depends," said Frank slowly.

"On what?"

"On whether or not you two did anything that perhaps you might end up regretting," said Frank.

"You mean having sex?" asked Dwayne.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, if you really want to know, we didn't. I'm dead serious, it was just what I said it was, me staying with her until she fell asleep. We kissed once, and it was just a light kiss, not like earlier."

"Ok, that's good to know. Wouldn't want you falling asleep in class now, would we?" Frank smiled at Dwayne; he saw no reason to doubt him.

"What?" Dwayne asked, clearly perplexed.

"Nothing, nothing, just have a good day at school. Have fun dissecting your frogs."

"Hey Frank," Dwayne said after he'd picked up his back pack and was walking towards the door to their room. Frank turned around, and Dwayne flipped him off, and then left the room, silently smiling to himself.


	10. Chapter 10

Richard again drove Sarah and Dwayne to school. They both sat in the back seat because Richard had boxes in the front seat. Sarah sat at the window seat on the right side of the car, while Dwayne was parked on the left. On the seat between them, they had tossed their back packs. Richard obsessively turning around to make sure that they were staying on their respective sides of the car. He couldn't see however, that behind their back packs, Dwayne had placed his hand on top of Sarah's a subtle way to remind her that he cared. She relished the gesture, and smiled at Dwayne for a moment, before turning to pretend to stare catatonically out of the window.

"Oh my god! I thought that you're dad was going to have whiplash, he turned around to check on us so much!" said Sarah after Richard had pulled away from the school.

"He is _not _my father," Dwayne said briskly.

"Right, I know, I'm sorry," Sarah apologized.

"It's ok, I'm just a little, well, picky about it, for lack of a better word I guess," justified Dwayne.

"Try anal?"

"Oh, good world, yes, anal, but still."

"Whatever, I'll try and remember, I'm sorry again," Sarah smiled at him.

"Ah, don't be, everyone fucks up from time to time." They walked in to the large, red brick building. Dwayne walked Sarah to her first class, which was English. "See you at lunch," he whispered in her ear, just before disappearing in the sea of people and heading to biology.

"Dwayne, right?" said a voice behind him. He turned around to find himself staring at the captain of the football team, Jake Gray.

"Yeah, why?" Dwayne replied sharply.

"Here, be my dissection partner," said the boy. Dwayne was used to working alone, and he had expected that to be the case today as well.

"Uh, why?"

"Cause I want to talk to you."

"O…K…" said Dwayne, wondering what Jake Gray could possibly want with him. Once they were part of the way into their frog, Jake turned to Dwayne.

"God, don't you think its sick how Miss. Daniels gave all of the frogs names before she handed them to us to cut up?" asked Jake, laughing a little.

"Listen, if you have something to say, just say it, if not, let' get back to work, ok?" Dwayne spoke harshly and irritably.

"Ok, calm down, god. So, what do you know about that new girl, Sarah Burke?" Dwayne almost dropped the frog leg that he was holding.

"Plenty, why?"

"Well, you ate lunch with her yesterday, and she's totally hot!" said Jake.

"Does this conversation have a point to it?"

"Yeah, yeah. So like, what's her deal? Is she single?" Dwayne didn't know how to answer this question right away,

"I guess I don't know, she never said."

"Oh, ok. Hey, do you want to find out for me?"

"Yeah, if you leave me alone."

"Done." Jake stuck out his hand for Dwayne to shake, but Dwayne ignored it. They finished maiming their frog in almost complete silence.

"Hey." Sarah sat down next to Dwayne at his usual table in the cafeteria.

"Do you consider yourself single?" Dwayne asked right away, mentally cursing his bluntness.

"Uh, do you want me to?"

"Some guy, Jake Gray wants to know, he says you're hot."

"Well what do you think? Am I hot?" she asked him, smiling.

"No, you're beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, but not hot. Hot sounds to vulgar to me." He took a sip of his Dr. Pepper and looked at her. "So, single or not?" he asked her again. She didn't speak, but opted to kiss him passionately instead. Automatically, me moved towards her, placing one hand on her knee and the other on her shoulder. She put one hand over his hand on her knee, touched her other hand gently to his cheek. They kept their kiss shorter then the first time so that they didn't attract too much attention, especially that of the faculty supervising lunch, but they attracted attention from their peers anyway. Those who bore witness were in shock, and those who had missed it refused to believe that Dwayne had been kissing a girl.

"You tell him whatever you want, just let me know what you choose, ok?" she smiled. "Now tell me about yourself, just sum everything up."

"Uh, I love Nietzsche, I like to pain, my favorite movie is The Breakfast Club, I don't watch any TV shows religiously, and other then Nietzsche's stuff, my favorite book is The Picture of Dorian Gray. My real father lives in Florida, but I only see him once a year, I took a nine month vow of silence earlier this year, I work out every day, I wanted to be a test pilot in the air force until I found that I was colorblind, and can't see the difference between red and green. I hate biology, onions, Richard, and playboys. I like English, pasta, Olive, and I find sleazy politicians amusing. My favorite color is yellow, not black." Dwayne took a deep breath and smiled.

"You forgot music."

"Right, I listen to classic rock, like Led Zeppelin, and stuff like that."

"So that's Dwayne in a nut shell?"

"Pretty much, nothing special here. Now it's your turn."

"Ok, my favorite movie is A Fish Called Wanda, I love to draw Manga, but not too many people know that about me, my favorite TV show is Scrubs. My favorite book is East of Eden. Both of my parents died when I was six, and I've been living with my aunt ever since. I have never taken a vow of silence, and I want to be a therapist when I get older. I like chemistry, chocolate, you, and romantic comedies. I hate physics, avocados, mimes, and Brian Greene. Music wise I like pop and hip hop, but I'm open to trying new things." She finished, and looked at Dwayne.

"Who's Brian Greene?"

"He's a physics guy, he made a video that we watched in class, and he drives me crazy!" She laughed a little, and he smiled.

"So the physicist creeps you out huh? That's not something that I've heard before." He took a bite of his turkey sandwich, which he had made for himself because his mom never remembered to exclude the onions.

"So I didn't really take you for a Breakfast Club kind of guy," she said.

"Well that's exactly it. No one's what they seem in that movie, it's great."

"That's very true. Have you ever seen A Fish Called Wanda?"

"No, is it good? Well obviously it's your favorite movie, but you know what I meant." Dwayne laughed because he was all tongue tied.

"It's hilarious, we should watch it sometime."

"Sounds good to me." They spent the rest of lunch discussing their likes, dislikes, and other things about themselves. Dwayne hadn't spoken so much so animatedly in a long time, and while it usually felt foreign to him, not it felt good. After lunch, they walked together to math, their second to last class before the day ended.

"Hey, did you talk to her?" asked Jake as Dwayne walked to English.

"I'm sorry Jake, but she's taken," said Dwayne, feigning an apologetic tone.

"Damn! By who?" he asked, seeming only slightly frustrated.

"She didn't say." Dwayne wasn't lying, she hadn't said, but he knew anyway.

"Oh well, I can probably get her to dump him." Jake smiled as though it were only a small set back.

"Well, good luck with that then," said Dwayne, sitting down and taking his essay rough draft out.

"Thanks." Jake went back to his seat, wondering if whoever Sarah was with went to their school or not, and id they did, how did they get together so quickly. Dwayne concentrated on editing Tracey Adams' essay, which he hated to admit was better then his own. When she passed him back his essay, it had a few well placed corrections on it, he was still not done with hers, but he looked at his anyway. There was a note at the bottom in red pen that said **Well, you look like you really know how to treat a girl, call me. **After the note it gave her number. Dwayne sighed, he had no intention of ever dialing the number on the paper in front of him. Tracey caught Dwayne's eye and winked at him. He rolled his eyes in response, causing her to glare at him. He still had her essay, so he wrote **Sorry, but I'm taken **at the bottom of it. He wasn't sorry, but he figured that it would be best to at least say that he was. Tracy just tossed her hair and turned away. Dwayne wondered why you suddenly became appealing only after you were infamous for publicly making out with someone, and once people saw you, they wanted you. He dismissed this as unimportant, however, as he had never had a crush on any of the girls who were now checking him out. All that mattered was that in 25 minutes when the bell rang, he would be with Sarah, and his times spent with Sarah were quickly becoming the best times of the day.


	11. Chapter 11

Today, Dwayne waited outside of the school for Sarah instead of at the bus stop, where he had waited the previous day. "So what did you tell Mr. Big shot?" she asked as she walked towards him.

"I told him that you had a boyfriend and were basically happy that way," he said.

"Cool, how'd he take it?"

"Well, he said that he was going to try to get you to dump your boyfriend," Dwayne said. "All of the people at this school have some sort of forbidden fruit complex."

"What makes you say that?" asked Sarah. They walked towards the bus stop and saw the #16 approaching the stop ahead of them.

"Fuck," sad Dwayne, then he started running towards the bus, Sarah following after him. They barely made it, but they did, and they made their way down the bus to Dwayne's usual area in the back corner. Sarah was slightly out of breath as they sat down, but Dwayne wasn't, considering he had adapted to running while _pushing _a bus, so running after one was not a problem.

"So, back to what you said, what makes you think that everyone has a forbidden fruit complex?" asked Sarah.

"Here, take a look at this, Tracey Adams wrote it in English," he handed her his English essay, pointing out the note in red pen that she had written.

"You really know how to treat a girl? No offense, but what a slut!"

"None taken, that's what I was thinking too, she drives me berserk!"

"Why?"

"Because she's a slut, but she's still smarter then me, and it just annoys me!" Dwayne sighed and sat back further in his seat, putting his feet up on the back of the seat in front of him.

"Don't worry about it, you're a great person, and you're plenty smart, don't let her get to you." Sarah tried to comfort him.

"It's funny, it never really bugged me before."

"You just feel a little threatened by her."

"But why now?"

"She spoke to you, she's never done that before, and you're threatened by the unknown."

"Yeah, you're probably right, but still…"

"Trust me, you could have worse problems." Sarah put one hand on his shoulder and squeezed it a little. Dwayne turned to her.

"Sorry, confusion pisses me off, I don't like being in the dark on things."

"You're telling me?" Sarah smiled.

"Good point; you would understand fear of the unknown to a great extent, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah." She nodded, and Dwayne gave her a sideways hug, and again, she put her head on his shoulder, smiling. He put his head on top of hers.

"Eh hem," the man sitting a few seats away coughed in their general direction.

"What?" Dwayne asked the man.

"Just remember, you're in a public place here son."

"Aw come on! We weren't doing anything; we just had a bad day, ok?" The man didn't respond to Dwayne, but looked away.

"That's an uptight man! I've seen _much _worse PDA on the bus, hell, I've _done _worse PDA then this, though not by much," said Sarah.

"PDA?"

"Public displays of affection, I thought everyone knew that term," Sarah smiled.

"Well, it's me, I don't tend to know things like that." Dwayne reached up to pull the cord, signaling that they needed to get off at the next stop.

"Yeah, but it's fairly universal, you need to talk more."

"I talk plenty…to you, and Frank."

"Maybe you should try getting friends."

"I don't trust people," said Dwayne.

"You trust me?" asked Sarah, standing.

"I think so," said Dwayne, pulling himself to his standing height, the slinging his backpack over his shoulders, he and Sarah moved towards the side door of the bus.

"You _think _so?" she asked him.

"I think that I do, but I also think that I need to get to know you a little better first," he reasoned as he walked off of the bus. Today, Sarah walked next to him instead of behind him.

"But you didn't need to know me better to make out with me?" asked Sarah, slightly hurt.

"No, that's not how it is. I didn't mean, I just, well, I dunno what, but you need to know that for me, giving people my trust is really, really hard. Please believe that I'm trying really hard to give it to you, I really do care about you, ok?" Dwayne had no clue where these words were coming from, but they sounded right to him.

"Ok, ok, I'm just not, well, used to our situation yet. You are so much different from all of the guys that I have been with before, it's entirely new to me to be attracted to you so strongly." Dwayne stopped walking and kissed Sarah lightly. Then he took her hand and they walked around the remaining blocks to the house. "So, you and Olive seem pretty close from the way you talk about her, but considering she's a product of Richard and your mom, it's a wonder you don't hate her."

"Hate her? I could never hate her. It's not her fault that those are her parents, they just are. Besides, she really cares about the whole family, which means that she cares about me. Before Frank, that made her the only person in the house to care." Dwayne adjusted the straps on his back pack nervously as he walked.

"Dwayne, trust me, she wasn't the only one to care about you. I'm sure your mom cares about you, and Richard probably does too." Sarah looked at Dwayne empathetically.

"They might have, but they didn't, and actually still don't, seem to appreciate me for who I am. When they first saw that I had dyed my hair black, mom screamed, Richard got a disgusted look on his face, and Olive loved it, she smiled at me, and told me that it looked great. Also, she always has time to look at my paintings and actually think about them. Mom always just says something along the lines of 'ok, that's lovely', though usually, my paintings shouldn't be described by the word lovely." Dwayne felt a little awkward telling all of this to Sarah. He had never told anyone these things before, and he wasn't sure why they were coming out now. It perplexed him greatly.

"Dwayne, are you ok?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You look, well, confused I guess? and maybe a little sick."

"Oh, no, I'm just a little shocked. I've never told anyone this stuff before, I've never _had _anyone to tell it to, actually.:

"Do you feel better?" Sarah was so confused by Dwayne. His emotions were all over the place. Once minute he was happy, the next he was angst ridden.

"Yeah, I guess so, it's just new to me, you understand."

"Sort of yeah, I think I know what you mean." There was short, but awkward silence. "So…what time does Frank get home?"

"Uh, about 4:30." Dwayne took his key out of his pocket and turned it in to the lock.

"Well, that gives us just under an hour," said Sarah, walking through the door and putting her back pack down on a chair in the kitchen.

"Yeah, I guess so." Dwayne stood awkwardly, a few feet away from Sarah.

"Well? Do you want to talk? Watch TV? Do math homework?" Sarah put her arms around Dwayne, who smiled.

"Was that euphemism?" he asked, referring to the math homework.

"Depends, do you want it to be?"

"I dunno, do you?" he smiled. He knew that he did, but he wanted her to be comfortable.

"Might as well be," she shrugged, and kissed him right there in the living room. Quickly, the moved on to the couch. She sat on his lap, her hands holding his face, and his arms were around her waist. "Oh, hold on." Sarah jumped up quickly and ran to her purse, pulling out her cell phone.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm setting my cell phone alarm for 4:20 so that we don't get taken by surprise again."

"Oh, good plan." Sarah finished, then walked back over to the couch. Putting her phone on the table next to the couch, she sat back down on Dwayne's lap.


	12. Chapter 12

Sarah's plan worked well, and they were able to be in their separate rooms doing homework by the time Frank got home. "Can I come in?" asked Frank, knocking on Dwayne's door to make sure that he wasn't interrupting again.

"Yeah, sure." When Dwayne gave him the ok, he opened the door and walked in.

"How was school?"

"Interesting," said Dwayne, referring to the fact that someone had actually 'spoken' to him.

"How so?"

"Some girl who I switched essays with asked me to call her sometime."

"Really? You?" Frank was pretty surprised by this.

"Yeah, I know, weird, huh. She saw me with Sarah and decided that I wasn't all that bad." Dwayne didn't care to go into too much detail.

"Oh, I know how that works. High schooler's and their damn hormones, always getting in the way," mumbled Frank. Dwayne laughed. "Ok, what's wrong?" asked Frank.

"What do you mean? Everything's fine as far as I know."

"You laughed, where I come from, that's not normal," explained Frank.

"Oh, I guess I'm just…happy maybe, I dunno."

"How so?"

"My English essay didn't get too much red pen on it, and it was being edited by the person who makes the corrections for the school paper. She's a bitch, usually she tears people's essays apart." Dwayne wasn't lying, but he knew, and he was pretty sure that Frank also knew, that he was happy for another reason, one that had little to do with his English essay and red pen marks.

"Wow, that's really cool. When you make all of the corrections, can I read it?"

"Can you handle it?" asked Dwayne, knowing suicide was probably a very tender subject to Frank.

"I can handle it, come on Dwayne, it can't be that bad, you don't need to baby me along, I'm ok now." Frank spoke clearly to his nephew, who nodded.

"Ok, I'm sorry, I just thought that maybe it was a bit of a sore subject for you."

"It is, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to read your work."

"Alright, when I'm done you can take a look, happy?" Dwayne gave in, knowing that it didn't matter much. He went to work on some of his other homework before taking his essay to the computer room and finalizing it. "Here." He handed the printed out copy to Frank, who immediately started reading it.

"Wow, this is amazing, have you ever considered pursuing some kind of literary career?" asked Frank when he had finished the essay.

"Uh, no. Until recently, I had always planned on a career in the Air Force, but I guess I have to get a new life plan now."

"Well, you should look in to writing or journalism or something." Frank handed the essay back to Dwayne.

"Yeah, maybe." Dwayne shrugged and put the papers in his binder.

"How's Sarah doing?"

"She's good." Dwayne was short in his reply.

"Just good?" asked Frank.

"Listen, if you really want to know, we're sort of a couple I guess, though I really don't see this as your business." Dwayne shoved his binder and books in to his pack, and zipped it up, glad that he didn't have too much homework due the next day.

When Olive got home, she went to go talk to Sarah. "Hi. Is it ok if I come in?" Olive asked.

"Sure, what's up?" Sarah put down her pencil and faced the girl.

"You don't hate Dwayne, do you." Olive stated.

"No, of course not," Sarah wasn't sure why Olive would think that.

"You're nice to him, he likes it."

"I try, I do owe him quite a bit."

"It's good to have someone his age who will talk to him. I think he's lonely, but he would never let anyone know that." Olive sat down on Sarah's bed.

"Yeah, everyone needs someone who isn't related to them to get in touch with them."

"I'm glad you're here. I don't think he's as angry as he was before you came."

"I'm glad I'm here too." Sarah smiled, knowing that her reasons and Olive's reasons weren't too far off from each other.

"Why did you kiss him at dinner?" Olive had been wondering about this for awhile now.

"He just looked like he needed it." Sarah didn't know how else to respond to the question.

"Ok, so you're not like in love with him or anything? Cause that'd be kinda weird," Olive made a face.

"No, we're, I mean no, I'm not in love with him." Sarah wasn't lying, she wasn't in love with him…yet, but she knew that she was quickly on her way there.

"Why do you have that look on your face?" asked Olive, studying the dreamy look sweeping across Sarah's face.

"Oh, no reason, I was just thinking about some stuff." Sarah smiled.

"Wanna play cards?" asked Olive.

"Sure, where are they?"

"Dwayne's room I think, I'll go get them." Olive got up and went to Dwayne's room. "Dwayne, do you have the playing cards?" she asked.

"Yeah, here," he tossed her a deck of cards. "Why do you need them?"

"Sarah's gonna play with me."

"Oh, can I come?"

"No, we're talking about you."

"Ok, well- wait, _what_?!"

"We're talking about you," Olive repeated, "so you can't come."

"Why are you talking about me?" he asked.

"Because we want to I guess." Olive shrugged. "It's fun."

"Well what are you saying?" Dwayne didn't want Olive to reveal all of his faults to Sarah.

"Don't worry, nothing bad." Olive smiled and went back to Sarah's room. Even though she was only seven, almost eight, she was clever enough to realize that there was something that Dwayne, and possible Sarah, wasn't telling her.

At dinner, Sarah and Dwayne kept trying to avoid each others eye contact, because both were afraid that looking on the other would cause something similar to last night to happen. Frank gave Dwayne a look about half way through the meal that said nothing else to the boy except for 'God, you are being so immature,' but Dwayne didn't care, he knew that it was the truth. He knew that he and Sarah should tell Richard and Sheryl about their relationship, but neither of them wanted to. Dwayne was afraid that if they found out, he and Sarah would never be given a moment alone, or even worse, that Sarah would be sent away to go live with her cousins in Bangor.

The dinner chat was the usual, how was school and such. Richard was carefully scrutinizing every move that Sarah and Dwayne made, especially towards each other, in hopes of catching some hint of another prank that would be played against him. Luckily for them, he was blind to their feelings for each other, dismissing any signs of romance as merely the awkward beginnings of a friendship that was sort of being forced upon them. If he had looked just a little closer though, he would have seen the small, quick wink that Sarah slipped to Dwayne just before the meal ended.


	13. Chapter 13

The next week went on roughly the same. Richard would drive Sarah and Dwayne to school, closely watching them. They would go about their days, seeing each other only at lunch and during math. Lunch time was dominated by conversation as Sarah and Dwayne grew to know each other better. Then, after the school day was over, they would meet at the front of the school and take the bus home together. The 50 minutes that they had all alone together were the best 50 minutes of the day. Considering that neither of them had any acting experience, they were surprised that their charade was still fooling Richard and Sheryl. On Friday night, the whole family stayed in and watched movies, but Saturday, Dwayne and Sarah were going to try go get out.

"Hey mom," Dwayne approached Sheryl in the kitchen on Saturday morning. "Can I take Sarah around the area tonight? Like for dinner and whatever?"

"Sure, but can you take Frank with you?" she asked.

"Uh, why?" Dwayne was skeptical.

"Richard and I would like some time just with Olive, so we wanted to take her out, and we can't leave Frank alone."

"He goes to work alone," argued Dwayne.

"No, he gets rides to and from work with friends, and while he's at work there are other people there."

"Ok, we'll take him with us," Dwayne gave in, knowing that arguing this any further could result in compromising his relationship with Sarah.

"Thanks hon, here, I'll give some money to Frank once I get a chance to stop by an ATM."

"Ok, cool. Can you give him enough for dinner and a movie I guess."

"I will, now go let Frank know, I don't think that he'll want to be left out of he loop for too long."

"Will do," Dwayne walked out of the kitchen towards his room, where Frank was still in bed asleep. "Hey, Frank," Dwayne threw a paper book at Frank.

"Who fed the cat?" asked Frank, waking with a start.

"No one, we don't even have a cat, stop dreaming, it's almost 9:30." Dwayne couldn't suppress the laughter that came with the statement he made.

"I'm up, I'm up, what's the rush?" Frank sat up.

"Nothing, it's just time to get up. Oh, and you, Sarah, and I are going out tonight."

"Where?"

"Food, movie, ring any bells?"

"Oh, you're going on a date…but I'm coming?" Frank was clearly confused.

"Richard and mom are taking Olive out, so you have to come."

"Ahh, well I think that's fine," Frank liked Sarah and Dwayne, but he didn't want to impose on their relationship. "Do you want me to let you guys be?"

"Uh, sort of, but not entirely. At dinner sit with us, talk with us, all that good stuff, but it would be great if at the movie you could sit a few rows away from us."

"I can, that is within my skill set."

"K, thanks." The day moved on, during the late morning, and early afternoon, homework was tackled, and chores were completed. Richard and Sheryl took Olive out at 6:00, leaving Frank and Dwayne alone in the living room while Sarah finished getting ready.

"Ok, so the movie's at 8, we should probably get going if we intend on eating," Frank said at 6:30.

"Ok, I'll go get Sarah." Dwayne walked to her room and knocked on her door. "It's Dwayne, time to go." Sarah opened the door.

"Hi."

"Wow! You look great! I mean, hey." Dwayne, taken aback by her appearance, stumbled over his words. She was wearing an above the knee skirt, and a red tank top, and unlike usual, had let her long brown hair down.

"Thanks." She smiled at him, and walked out of her room. The couple walked out in to the hallway, where they met up with Frank, so that they could get going. They ate at an old fashioned hamburger restaurant, and chose to watch a thriller about an FBI agent gone rogue, well, Frank watched a thriller about an FBI agent gone rogue. Dwayne and Sarah didn't pay too much attention for obvious reasons.

"Did you guys have a good time?" asked Sheryl when they got home.

"Yeah, it was fun." Said Frank.

"Did you guys like the movie?" asked Richard.

"Um, yeah," Dwayne replied, hoping they wouldn't ask him about the plot.

"Great. Oh, be quiet, Olive went to bed a little bit ago, and actually, Richard and I are going to bed too." Dwayne looked at the clock as Sheryl spoke. It read eleven, and he wasn't remotely tired yet.

"Yeah, ok." Everyone disbanded and went to their own separate rooms.

"You tried?" asked Frank, as he put on his pajamas.

"Nope," said Dwayne, dragging his red shirt and his SAVE PLUTO boxers out of his drawer.

"I thought not, you seem pretty alive."

"I guess I sort of am, I dunno, it's confusing. It's just weird to have someone who isn't family care about me," said Dwayne, getting in to bed for lack of a better thing to do.

"Yeah, it's nice huh. Well, I'm going to sleep, turn the light off when you're done reading." Frank rolled over and closed his eyes. Dwayne read for about an hour, then shut off the light. Sleep was still far away, so after a few minutes, he got up and went to the kitchen to get something to drink.

"Hey, what are you still doing up?" asked Sarah, as he entered the kitchen.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Can't sleep," she shrugged.

"Everything ok?" he asked.

"I could say yes, but then I would be lying to you, and I don't want to do that."

"Wanna talk about it?" asked Dwayne, pouring himself a glass of apple juice and sitting down next to her.

"I'm still having nightmares," Sarah said, "nothing big."

"Are they bad? What are they about?" Dwayne put his arm around her.

"Well, they tend to be about, well, about what happened," she spoke slowly.

"Wait, wait, so are things coming back to you?" asked Dwayne, a little shocked that she hadn't said anything sooner.

"Yeah, well, only little bits and pieces."

"Like what?"

"Well, it was two men, and I was running away from them, but I dunno what came before that and I always wake up before I can see what's coming next." Dwayne felt a shiver run up Sarah, and he brought her closer to him, his apple juice forgotten. She put her head in between his chest and shoulder. He hugged her tightly, rubbing her back gently to try to calm her down.

"Sarah," Dwayne started, then he paused.

"Yeah?" Sarah encouraged him to continue.

"I love you." He was surprised to hear the words come out of his mouth.

"I know."

"You know? How?"

"I've had boyfriends before, but you're the only one that's ever displayed any sort of genuine care for me."

"Oh, ok."

"For what it's worth, I love you too."

"It's worth a lot." Dwayne smiled a mild smile, and they just sat there for a few minutes. "It's getting late, you should go to sleep. Here, I'll walk you back to your room." He stood, then took her hand and pulled her up. They walked to her room.

"Goodnight," said Sarah.

"Sleep well," Dwayne said. He kissed her, then moved towards the door.

"Dwayne, wait." Sarah pulled him into an embrace and kissed him.


	14. Chapter 14

Dwayne lay awake in Sarah's bed. She was asleep, her head on his chest. He didn't know what to think, it had happened so quickly, not at all like he thought. He had always thought that couples talked it out first, but _they _hadn't. Sarah's head rose up and down with his breath. What would Richard and Sheryl do if they found out? Dwayne didn't know, but he was in no hurry to find out. Dwayne felt Sarah's head moving, and he looked down to see her beginning to twist. Quickly, he recognized her motions as a nightmare. If he woke her up, she wouldn't have to suffer through it, but if he didn't wake her up, she might find out more about what had happened to her. He decided to let it go until it got really bad, and if it looked like she was going through too much, or if she was in too much pain, he would wake her.

"NOOOO!" she let out a scream. Dwayne immediately woke her.

"Sarah, Sarah? What's wrong?"

"Oh my god, OH MY GOD!" Sarah was breathing heavily, and her heart rate was rising rapidly. Dwayne enveloped her in a tight hug, trying to soothe her.

"It's ok, I'm here, shhhh." Dwayne rubbed her back and stroked her hair.

"No, its NOT ok!" Sarah's eyes were wide with fear.

"What happened? What did you see that's so terrible?" Dwayne wanted to help.

"My aunt! I think they killed her!" said Sarah after a minute.

"Don't worry, it was just a dream, everything is going to be ok."

"What if it was real?" she asked him.

"Don't worry, it wasn't real." They were both sitting up now.

"But what if-?" she couldn't finish her sentence because she was too worked up.

"It's ok." Dwayne didn't know what else to tell her. They sat for a minute in silence. "You aren't going to be able to go back to sleep tonight, are you?"

"I don't think so, you should go back to your room and get some sleep." She said.

"Nope, I'm going to stay up all night with you, but we have to go into the living room and sit on the couch so that Richard and Sheryl don't flip a lid. Is that ok?" Dwayne asked. Sarah nodded. That walked into the living room and sat side by side on the couch. Since Sarah was still in a highly agitated state, she found little comfort in Dwayne's words or in his actions, though she appreciated the sentiment as he held her and spoke words of comfort to her.

"Thank you for staying with me."

"It's no imposition. When I said I loved you, I meant it, and that means that I can't let you suffer alone." Sarah forced a smile, but she wasn't content. What if her aunt really was dead? Would that mean that who ever was after her knew where she was? Were they going to come back for _her?_ To finish the job that they had started? She wanted to call her aunt, but if this was just a dream, as it probably was, then all she would be doing would be waking up her aunt and causing her worry.

"Then thank god for love, because I really need someone right now." Sarah moved around awkwardly, shivering. Dwayne pulled a blanket from the back of the couch over her shoulders to warm her, but the shivering didn't subside.

"I'll be here for you as long as you need me to be, and then some." At this moment, Dwayne felt that, even having only known her for a week, that he would do anything for her. He would give up anything to be with her, or to keep her safe and/or happy. "Do you want to know something kind of funny?" he asked a little later in an attempt to cheer her up.

"Yeah, I guess so…"

"We all got arrested, a few months ago."

"Who?!"

"Richard, Frank, Olive, Mom, and I."

"Really? Why?" Sarah had to admit she was a little surprised. They all seemed pretty by the book to her.

"Olive entered a beauty contest with a routine that grandpa choreographed, that turned out to be a little bit of a striptease, so we all got up on the stage and danced with her to support her because the pageant runners wanted to throw her off. Then we all got arrested." Dwayne laughed at the memory. At that time, Olive had been the only person for whom he would have done that.

"You're not serious." Through all of her fright, Sarah couldn't help but laugh a little. "I have to meet this grandpa."

"You can't, he died en route to the beauty contest. We actually had to steal his body out of a hospital to make it to the pageant on time." Dwayne wasn't sure whether to laugh or remain silent.

"You stole his body from the hospital? You've got to be kidding me!" Sarah smiled.

"No joke, and amazingly enough, we didn't get arrested, well, not for that at least. Sarah moved closer to Dwayne as he spoke.

"I'm sorry about your grandpa."

"Eh, it's his own fault, he was snorting heroin, wasn't even my grandpa anyway, he was Richard's dad, so Olive's grandpa."

"Oh, ok." They sat together, mostly in silence, for about an hour. Dwayne was wide awake, as was Sarah. He really wanted her to be able to sleep, but clearly, that wasn't written in the stars for that night. The dark of way gave way to the early morning dim light as Sarah and Dwayne drifted in and out of sleep. When Sheryl woke up, she went to the kitchen for coffee. Dwayne was asleep at the time, Sarah wasn't.

"Hey, what are you guys doing in here?" she asked.

"I had another nightmare, and Dwayne was still up, so he came to talk me down, but neither of us felt too comfortable staying in the bedroom, so we came out here." Sarah told most of the truth.

"Oh, are you ok?" Sarah nodded.

"What's going on?" Dwayne spoke groggily and blinked his eyes as he woke.

"I was just about to tell Sarah how impressed I am with your responsibility in your decision to come in to the living room instead of stay in the bedroom." Dwayne assumed that Sarah had left a few details out of her tale.

"Umkay," Dwayne yawned. "What time is it?"

"6:30." Offered Sheryl.

"Ok, then I think I'm as good as up for the day." Dwayne stood up and stretched out a little.

"Yeah, me too," said Sarah, not moving off of the couch, but moving herself in to another, more awake, position.

"Do you guys want breakfast?" asked Sheryl.

"No," said Dwayne, pulling a yogurt from the refrigerator and a spoon from the silverware drawer. Sarah and Sheryl both gave him a quizzical look. "What?" he asked when he realized that they were both looking at him.

"You said that you didn't want breakfast just as you started eating," said Sarah, smiling.

"Oh, I do that a lot, its subconscious." Sarah laughed a little, and Sheryl rolled her eyes at her son's many quirks.

A minute or two later, the phone rang. "Hello?" Sheryl picked up. "yes this is the correct number, yes, Sheryl speaking…oh…yes, I see…no…no…as soon as possible…right away…no, I know…ok…thank you." Sheryl hung up and turned to face Dwayne and Sarah. During the phone conversation, Dwayne had moved back to the couch with his breakfast. "Sarah, honey, there's been an accident."


	15. Chapter 15

Sarah's face turned chalk white as Sheryl spoke. No one had to tell her that something had happened to her aunt, she already knew. Sheryl waited to say anything else, still thinking of the most comforting way to phrase it. Dwayne pushed aside the risk of letting out the secret of his relationship with Sarah and immediately went to her. She fell into his arms, shocked and scared. He hugged her as tightly as he could without hurting her. Coming from Dwayne, this gesture confused Sheryl, but there were bigger fish to fry then to think about that. "Sarah, Dania, your aunt, she overdosed on a prescription drug. She's not dead, but she's in an unconscious state, and probably will be for a couple of days. The doctors say that she's probably just stressed out over what happened to you." Sarah left out a small sigh of relief.

"Will she be ok?" asked Dwayne.

"Yeah, in a couple of days, but until she wakes up, the doctor said that it would be best not to go see her." Sarah nodded but still couldn't speak. "Is there anything I can get you?" Sheryl asked, slightly concerned.

"Uh, n-no, I think I'm going to go to me room and lie down." Sarah stood shakily and went to her room. Dwayne stood to follow, but his mother grabbed him around the wrist.

"Maybe you should just give Sarah some time to be alone, it's probably what she needs right now."

"Mom, I can help her." Dwayne was firm in his belief that he could.

"What makes you so sure of that, and what makes you more qualified to talk to her then the rest of us?"

"Oh god, ok, here's the deal, I wasn't hoping to have to tell you like this, but here goes. For the past week, Sarah and I have been going out, I guess that's what you'd call it. Anyway, we're really, really close, and I'm dead sure that we're in love, even though it's only been a week, at least I love her. Let me go help her now, yell at me or lecture me later, please?" Sheryl's mouth dropped and her eyes grew wider with every word Dwayne said. Unable to speak, she merely released his arm and nodded that he could follow her. "I'm so sorry." He went over to Sarah, who sat on her bed.

"She didn't overdose Dwayne, I know she didn't! This wasn't an accident, it couldn't have been."

"What do you mean? Of course it was? What else could have happened? It had to be."

"No, the people who are after me, they set it up, that's what my dream mean, they are going after the people that are close to me, the one's who care about me, the one's that I care about!" Sarah collapsed in a heap on her bed.

"Whoa, what makes you say that?" Dwayne sat on the bed ant pulled her up to him.

"They want to cause me maximum pain. I know why they're after me Dwayne. I witnessed something. I don't know what it was, so I can't go to the police yet." Sarah didn't know when this had hit her, but she was certain of it.

"Wow," Dwayne didn't know what to say. "Should you like, go somewhere and lay low or something?" asked Dwayne finally, knowing it wasn't the most intellectual or sensitive thing to say given the situation.

"Yeah, probably, unless…no, I can't do that."

"Um, why not?"

"Because if I do that, then they will keep going for the people that I care about until they can get me out of hiding, and that means you Dwayne, and I can't let anything happen to you."

"Oh."

"Dwayne?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry, but I need you to stay as far away from me as you can. Be cold, be harsh, you can't care about me at all"

"Sarah, you have to understand, I can't do that, _why _would I do that?" Dwayne didn't understand who she could know he was in love, and say she was in love if she didn't understand that he couldn't leave her, no matter the circumstances.

"Because Dwayne," Sarah sounded slightly exasperated. "If they think that I love you, you will be the first person that they will go after, and that cannot happen." Sarah had known that this might have to happen ever since she first felt something for Dwayne, so she had tried to avoid getting involved with him, but she cared about him too much to not tell him how she felt, and now she cared about him so much more that she knew she had to let him go. She felt bad that she was causing him so much pain.

"I'm sorry, but I can't not be around you. I'm willing to risk the danger of the situation!"

"You might be ready to, but I'm not, just, just leave me alone!" Nothing had ever hurt Sarah more then pushing away the only boy whom she had ever loved, and the only boy who had ever shown her care and love. For Christ's sake, he had even saved her life, and she had to try and save his.

"Again, I don't care, I'd rather be with you now then without you, you can't get rid of me this easily. I am going to stand by you now, and until I can't anymore." His commitment to her touched her heart, but she was too worried that something might happen to him. She let him hold her for the time being, but she had to him to leave her alone.

She went to school the next day, but only to keep up appearance, and to follow through with her plan. She tried to be dismissive towards Dwayne. She wouldn't let him touch her, kiss her, or even get to close, and it hurt him. He was staying late after school to talk to his English teacher about putting more of an emphasis on writing in his education from now on. The meeting went well; the teacher agreed with Frank what Dwayne's talent lay in writing. For the first time since Sarah had come, he took the bus home alone, however, instead of reading as he usually did, he could think of nothing but her. Was she ok? Was she in danger? Could he help her in any way if she was? Questions filled his head, questions that he had no idea how to answer. He walked home, still coming in a good 20 minutes before Frank. When he unlocked the door, a very unfriendly site met his eyes. Sarah was sitting on the couch, openly making out with Jake Gray.

"Dude, what the fuck is he doing here?" Jake asked, breaking the kiss when Dwayne walked in. Obviously, Sarah hadn't bothered telling Jake that she lived at his house.

"I live here, I would ask you the same, but I think it's pretty obvious." Dwayne walked down the hall to his room. He was hurt, shocked, and upset. He had thought Sarah was loyal to him, he though she loved him, but he guessed he had been wrong. Suddenly he felt stupid to have believed that a girl like Sarah could ever love a guy like him.

"Babe, what was that all about?" asked Jake, confused.

"I think you'd better go, now." Sarah stood, and motioned for Jake to follow suit. "And don't call me babe, ever." He stood, protesting his banishment as she pointed him out the door. Once he left, she sat down on the couch, every fiber of her being argued with itself. Her heart was telling her not to let Dwayne go, but her reason told her that for his own protection, she had to push him as far away from her as possible.

Dwayne sat on his bed, ignoring his homework completely. Walking to his desk, he picked up a book, and flipped through it. The book was old, worn, and love, it was his favorite book. As he flipped through it, a note written on the front cover caught his eye. It was in his writing, and it made the pain that he was feeling even worse. Silently, he added to the writing a little, and walked out to the living room. Without speaking, Dwayne threw the book at Sarah, who was crying softly on the couch. Then without any further acknowledgment, he went back to his own room. No matter how mad he was at her, he still loved her, even though she didn't care about him, this was breaking his heart. He had never thought that anything could have been more upsetting to him then finding out that he couldn't be in the air force, but this was far and away the most painful that had ever happened to him. By the time Frank got home, both Dwayne and Sarah were a mess, and he didn't have to ask what had happened. When Sheryl got home, Frank told her what he knew, and begged her to leave the pair alone for the night.


	16. Chapter 16

Sarah sat alone in her room, fingering the word book that Dwayne had chucked at her. She knew that it was his favorite, he had read it again and again, or so she had been told. Finally, she opened the book. Immediately, she saw the writing on the wrinkled inside of the front cover. In big letters, it said I WAS GOING TO GIVE YOU THIS WHEN YOU MOVED BACK IN WITH YOUR AUNT, BUT NOW SEEMS AS GOOD A FUCKING TIME AS ANY. Her eyes rose to the corner, where a smaller note had been written. 'Dear Sarah, I know you don't share my appreciation for Nietzsche, but this is a little insight to me. I love you; remember that when ever you look at this book. Love, Dwayne.' Sarah went to her back pack, and pulled out paper and a pencil. She scrawled a semi lengthy note on it, then folded it up. She planned on delivering it later.

Both teenagers stayed in their rooms through dinner and on. No one even tried to talk to Sarah, for no one knew what to say to her. Later that night, Frank had gone to his room to try and talk to Dwayne about what had happened. When he went to the room, he didn't even bother knocking, for Dwayne would direct him to go away, or give no response at all. After he entered, he gave Dwayne a few minutes during which he could either choose to acknowledge his uncle, or simply adjust to presence. Then he spoke.

"So, you and Sarah broke up, that much is evident. The details are yours to keep secret, but if you want to let me know what went down, I'm not going anywhere, and I won't tell anyone, unless you want me to. "

"I should have seen it coming." Dwayne turned to look at his uncle. He looked terrible.

"You should have seen what coming?"

"How could a girl like that ever want someone like me? Who the fuck did I think I was kidding?"

"Wait, did Sarah break up with you?"

"Not exactly, no."

"Oh, ok, do you want to elaborate at al, or just let it stand?" asked Frank, there was a pause as Dwayne sought an answer to this question.

"She cheated on me, with the football team captain." Dwayne spoke finally, sighing.

"That's not possible."

"Well, obviously it is, because it happened," said Dwayne, an indignant tone lining his voice.

"Dwayne, there must have been something else to it. She was, no, is, very much in love with you!" Frank was slightly taken aback by what Dwayne was telling him.

"Yeah? What would you know about it? You didn't spend any time with her alone," argued Dwayne.

"I could tell. It was written all over her, I saw it in her eyes when ever she looked at you, and in her smile when she looked away. I could hear it in her voice when she talked to you, and see it in the way she moved and acted around you. If you could see how upset she is now, you would know that she is still in love with you." Frank didn't like seeing Sarah upset, and he absolutely hated seeing his nephew falling apart like this, he had always been such a together person, and now his foundation was crashing to the ground.

"Bullshit."

"No Dwayne. She loves you, why can't you accept that?"

"If she loves me, she has a very funny way of showing it. She let Jake Gray have what he wanted with her right here where I could see, that's why I can't fucking accept that she loves me, ok? If she cared about me, she can tell me herself."

"Listen, I understand that you're angered by this, but let's be honest, if she actually wanted to cheat on you, she would have been much more elusive about it. She knew you where coming home then-" Frank was cut off by Dwayne.

"This was just her way of letting me know that it's over between us."

"Alright, if that's what you want to think, go ahead. Personally, I think that you are just too angry to deal with reason right now, but at least try to think about what I said, ok? I don't think that Sarah is that cold hearted."

"Whatever you say." Dwayne lay back down on his bed, and turned to face his wall. To him, this conversation was over, and there was nothing else to think about. The evidence spoke for itself, what was done was done. He listened as Frank got ready for bed, then as he got in to bed, and he waited silently for Frank to finish his reading and shut off the light. With open arms, Dwayne welcomed and embraced the darkness that now surrounded him. He let it seep in to him, and eventually he a way to calm down enough to fall in a sleep, a restless sleep at that, but sleep none the less. He woke in the middle of the night. Once when he thought he heard something, and once with a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was wrong. When he came to the second time, there was a white piece of paper at his side, glistening in the dark. He grabbed it immediately and turned on the light. Frank stirred, but did not wake as Dwayne began to read the letter. 'Dear Dwayne, you will never, ever know how sorry I am. Hurting you was the hardest thing that I have ever done. I don't expect you to understand, at least not right away, but I did what I did with Jake because I needed, well, need to protect you. He means nothing to me, absolutely nothing. If whoever tried to kill me, and whoever poisoned my aunt knew how much I care about you, I would only be making you the next target. You don't have to believe me, but no words can express how I feel about you. The closest that I can come is I love you now, and I always will. I want to let you know that I will always have you in my heart and in my mind. I hope that over time, you can learn to forgive me for what I have done, but if you cannot, I understand. I want you to tell Olive, Sheryl, Richard, and Frank and I am safe where I have gone, though I can't assure you that I will be. They don't need to worry about me, and if the look for me, it could be dangerous to you and your family. Thank you for being there for me, and for teaching me how to love these past few weeks. You saved my life in more ways then one.

Love Forever,

Sarah.


	17. Chapter 17

Dwayne shot out of bed, and ignoring both the facts that he was still in his pajamas and that he had left the light on in his room, and ran to Sarah's room. Unfortunately, but not terribly surprising to him, she wasn't there. Without any hesitation, she ran out in to the night, hoping that she would still be somewhere in the night. Looking around, he didn't see her, so he chose a random direction, and bolted down the street. Once he had gone three blocks, he turned around and ran down another street, going in each of the four directions. Sarah was no where to be found. Upset, heartbroken, and very out of breath, Dwayne collapsed on his front lawn. No knowing what else to do, he read Sarah's letter over and over again. In the last year, he had lost two of the things that he cared most about in the world, and it was crushing him. He lay back in the grass and looked up at the sky, his eyes clouded over with tears. From the dim light beginning to emerge, Dwayne knew that Richard and Sheryl would be up soon, but strangely, he didn't care if they saw him this way. He didn't care if they thought that he had finally cracked.

Dwayne just let the time drip by slowly and painfully. He wanted to stop crying, he wanted to be strong about it, but for the first time, he couldn't be. Would Sarah be safe on her own? Dwayne worried, but he also knew that her chances of survival were higher if she kept moving then if she stayed in one place. Many things were charging through his head. Would he ever see or hear from her again? Would he even be able to find out if something did happen to her? Reality was setting in. Sarah was gone. She left to protect him, to protect his family, but he didn't want to be safe, he wanted to be with her. It didn't make any sense, he felt empty, alone, and scared, even though he was safer now then he had been.

Dwayne was so deep in thought, or more worry, that he didn't hear the front door open. He didn't notice that someone was walking towards him until he felt a hand placed on his shoulder. Expecting the hand to belong to Sheryl or Frank, he turned, and was surprised to see that the person who was in the process of sitting down next to him was neither his mother nor his uncle, but his step father. Dwayne didn't know what to say, and wasn't sure whether or not Richard was going to lecture him or do something else. He sat still, as did Richard, and it was clear that neither of them knew what the next course of action was going to be.

"So, what happened? I got up to get some water, and I saw your light on, but Frank was crashed, and you weren't there, so I went to see if you were in Sarah's room but it was empty," Richard explained his journey to Dwayne.

"So basically, you were looking for me to have fucked up? Did you want to find Sarah and I screwing?" Dwayne accused Richard, emotionally unstable from his loss.

"No, well, not really. Sheryl told me that you two were involved, and later she told me that Frank had told her that things had gotten bad between you two. I just wanted to make sure that everything was ok."

"Well, EVERYTHING IS NOT FUCKING OK! SHE'S GONE!" he yelled. "She's gone." He quieted down, his anger turning to plain sadness.

"Wait, what?" Richard was confused.

"She's gone, I tried to chase after her, but she's gone, here." Dwayne handed Richard the letter that Sarah had left him, regardless of the fact that she had said to tell them she was fine. Richard read the letter quickly and silently, then folded it back up, and handed it to Dwayne.

"I'm really sorry Dwayne, I really am, but you do realize that she was only doing the right thing, and I believe that she did do the right thing, but it was hard for her." Richard was looking at his step son intently. "She loved you. I wouldn't have believed it if you'd told me, if anyone had told me, you're too young, but this letter speaks for her feelings, and your reaction shows that you love her too."

"That doesn't help the fact that she's gone! I'm never going to see her again. She's gone, she's fucking gone, and she's not coming back." Then something inside of Dwayne cracked. Maybe it was because he was coming to terms with all of the facts, or maybe it was because Richard was actually listening, actually caring, it may even have been both, but Dwayne let loose, he didn't even try to control his tears anymore. He fell back on the ground, not having the energy to hold himself up anymore. He lay on his stomach, his face almost touching the ground, pressed against his tightly clenched fist.

"I know Dwayne, This is going to be really, really hard to deal with, but you're strong, you'll be ok, eventually. I'm not saying that you will ever forget her, or that you will ever recover from the pain this is causing you, but it won't kill you, even though it may feel like it will right now." Dwayne didn't know how Richard knew this stuff, but for the first time, Dwayne listened to him without judging him, without being angry or annoyed with him. It was new to both of them. Richard just sat there, letting Dwayne pour out his emotions. Richard studied the figure lying beside him, and began to wonder where the younger boy had gone, and when Dwayne had become a grown up, mature, young man. How had he allowed himself to criticize his step son so much that he had never gotten a chance to know him? Why had he allowed Dwayne's understandable dislike for him blind him and prevent him from being a proper father figure for him?

Though this situation was not a happy one, it was bringing a family closer together in a way that only an extreme situation can. While no one understood why this had to be happening to them, they were beginning to understand that it was going to help to heal their family. Richard and Dwayne had never been anything even near to close, but now that was changing. The pain of Dwayne and Sarah was giving way to a time of understanding, compassion, and peace.

_**A/N Ok, so this is the end technically, but I wrote another ending, which is sort of an acting prologue, so if you guys want that, let me know. I wasn't planning on posting it, because it's kind of cheesy, but let me know if you want a happy ending.**_


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